Butterfly
by Yojimbra
Summary: Visiting the Smash Universe Joker meets a cute and rather angry princess that's really good with her sword. She was supposed to be from another dimension, so how exactly did she end up taking the return trip back with him? Joker x Lucina. Mostly set in Persona 5 world, will branch out from there. Not dead... just sleeping.
1. Chapter 1

**I normally have Notes at the end of stories, but I feel as though I should address this beforehand to avoid confusion.**

 **While this story does start in the smash universe (Specifically the world of light) it is largely a Persona 5 and Fire Emblem Awakening story with a Lucina and Joker entering a relationship (Eventually... knowing me, it'll be by chapter 7). Other characters may appear at the start and the end. I'm also not sure what category to put this fic under so Sorry.**

 **Anyways, please enjoy.**

Art by Hakuramen head to his twitter!

 **XXXX**

Could he put tyrant-god killer on his resume?

It wasn't even a one-time thing if this last attack was successful then he'd have three gods under his belt, one of control, another of light, and one more hentai monster of pure blackness. Despite how different they were, they all seemed to really hate the idea of people with free will.

Well, he still wasn't quite sure if the little pink ball of murder that was called Kirby was technically a person, but even pink murder balls deserved free will! Especially the Pokèmon - Ann would be more than a little miffed he if didn't save Pichu - and that squid kid that looked a lot like Futaba. So as a champion of making terrible choices he was going to save them all so they could have right to fuck up their own lives.

And look damn good doing it!

He grabbed his mask, welcoming the pain it would bring to tear off, his mouth twitching into a smile as the sheer joy of the coming battle began to flood into him. It couldn't even blame Haru for this, his own battle mania had always been there, boiling just under the surface as his natural desire to show off with all eyes on him began to bleed through. Part of the reason why he started the Phantom Thieves was of course to do the right thing, but mostly, he just enjoyed it.

Below him, a group of fighters battled against a horde of zombie-like clones and a group of giant white gloves that assaulted them from above with a wide arrange of magical attacks or brutal strength, it was a miracle they had survived this long without him.

Among his supposed allies, he only really recognized one, the giant turtle dragon thing that Mario sometimes beat up, Bowser, who was taking the brunt of the assault using his large size to tear through the hordes. Behind him were two humans, one was a tall woman with long green hair that looked to be some greek goddess, and the other was a boy with a sword and long blue hair, wait, maybe that was a girl? Either way, they certainly knew how to use a sword.

Another group of hands, four in total, half of them twitching appeared and headed right for him.

"Well then, time to start the show!" He leaped forward, dodging the first twitching hand's attack as it slammed into the ground with enough force to destroy the platform. The glove was surprisingly smooth, almost like silk, and just as easy to cut.

With his knife buried between the hand's fingers, he slid downward, dragging his knife down with him, like how a pirate would slide down a ship sails for that extra bit of flair. A second hand, this one more in control barely missed him as it's attack flew overhead. That one was close, almost too close. Ahh, he'd missed this thrill.

Kicking off the hand and towards the other pair he twirled, if for no other reason than to look cool, hoping that someone was watching. He was the leader of the Phantom Thieves, he had a reputation to maintain. He blasted the spazzing hand with his gun while twisting his dagger to block a blow coming from the other. The attack came, he blocked it, twisting his dagger and using it to dive up onto the hand's back and emptying the rest of his clip into it. They saw him do that right?

Bowser had his mouth open in shock, even as it held a struggling zombie in his massive claws, the green haired greek nodded at him, her attention still focused on the battle, explosions coming from her magical staff. And the blue-haired woman - he was sure this time - was glaring at him.

They hadn't seen anything yet. He grabbed his mask, relishing the pain and blood that came from ripping it off and letting out his true self, his true power. "Arsene! Ravage them!"

It was good to be back.

XXXX

He was a show-off. A good for nothing show-off, that was a thousand times worse than her father when he was trying to impress mother. At least that made sense. That was love! It was sweet, this was just showing off to feed his own ego. Not that it wasn't impressive, it was just pointless. 

If she felt like being a dumbass and breaking from formation she could easily do what he did.

"Lucina!" Palutena's voice was both booming and soothing as it projected in her mind, drawing her attention to the battle before them. A fake version of Pikachu charged at her, its fur grey and eyes red even as electricity sparked about it. She turned, swung, and vanquished the foe with a single hit. The lords of light and darkness were getting desperate it seemed.

"Who is that?" She asked cutting into another foe, vaguely aware of the explosions taking place above her. He was riding on top of a Master Hand now. Really, who does that? Why? There's no point! Such an infuriating show-off!

Bowser either didn't hear her or didn't care, focused only on pushing them forward to the middle point where the opposing forces of light and dark were clashing. They were supposed to be the stealth squad, to wait for the other two forces to force the Galeem and Darkron to fight each other, it was the best way to maintain balance. But here they were fighting an army of hands and fakes.

One of Palutena's barriers blocked an attack from the side before one of her fire blasts cleared a path. Her voice clear enough to get the message across, while not distracting her from the fight - and glaring. "That's Joker, leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, and it would appear he's our reinforcements."

"How's a thief supposed to help us?" She glared at Joker as he continued to leap from hand to hand, damaging them but not defeating them, at least he made a decent distraction, to say the least.

"Arsene!" She heard his voice for the first time. It made her want to punch him. Her eyes were torn to the sky as the sound of rattling chains descended down towards the battleground. Blue fire erupting from the top of a Master Hand, followed by hollow laughter. "Ravage them!"

A black and red angel with the mask of a smiling demon burst forth, chains falling about it as the blue flames burned brighter, consuming the Master Hand and lashing out to a nearby Crazy Hand. All three of them dropped from the sky, crashing down into the ground like a meteorite and bathing the remaining forces in flames.

Palutena's barrier shielded them from the flames and doubling it down upon the fakes, the sounds of their spirits being freed mixed with the roaring fires. Palutena stood next to her, lowering her staff and pushing a defiant strand of her long green hair back, offering a small nod and a bright smile. "You shouldn't underestimate him, Joker may be a thief but he also defeated a god through sheer force of will and freed the hearts of his entire world."

The angel rose up, cackling as the blue flames wrapped around it before vanishing into the air.

"Besides, he certainly knows how to make an entrance," Palutena's laugh was full of mirth.

More like he knew how to make an ass out of himself if he could do that then why didn't he do that at the start? And it wasn't even him, it was that angel thing! Arsene or whatever he shouted out. (That was a lesson she learned from her pokemon allies). Still, he was an ally and a capable one. Just one that was late.

Joker dusted off some of the soot from his shoulder and quickly reloaded his pistol. Now that she got a good look at him, he really wasn't that impressive, black clothes, black coat, red gloves, and white mask, complete with frizzy black hair. His primary weapon was that of a dagger. Aside from his height which was greater than her father's he just wasn't impressive.

"Those were the bad guys right?" His smile was so cocky she wanted to stab him. "I'm Joker by the way."

"Greetings Joker, I am the goddess Palutena," She pressed a hand to her chest before gesturing back towards them, her feet touched the ground when she stood before the young man, these are my companions, The Koopa King Bowser, and Princess Lucina,"

He gave her one of those over exaggerated bows with one hand on his chest, the other extended out to the side, he looked more like a butler than a thief. But that smile was anything but polite. "A goddess and royalty? I feel rather out of place."

"Your Modesty is not welcomed," Bowser, stomped forward, the ground shaking under his massive footfalls and the rumble of his voice. "Do you need us to explain what we're doing here or are you ready to fight?"

Something flashed across his eyes, a hidden danger that was a sharp as Bowser's claws. But there was a joy mixed in there as well. Oh, he was one of those, the kind of person that would welcome conflict with open arms, sword first, questions later. Not that there was much room for negotiations with their current foe. But tactics would go further than-

"Of course," Joker stood to his full height and readjusted his red gloves, before nodding towards Galeem and Darkron near the background. "We just gotta beat two gods at once, should be easy."

"Easy?" She turned towards him, the half foot he had on her did not intimidate her in the least. "I have fought dragons, demons, and other monstrosities since I could hold a sword and this was by far the greatest challenge, even with many strong allies, and you, some thief, have the audacity to say that it was easy?"

Just as she was not cowed by him, he did not flinch under her harsh stare. Instead, that damn smile that oozed confidence into a physical manifestation that made the very air around him he winked at her and she really wanted to punch him. But that could wait until after the worlds were saved.

"Just watch, and follow my orders." She was really hoping that Bowser would eat him.

"Oh, and why do you get to be in charge? We agreed that-"

He held up a hand, head cocked to the side. "I'm sorry do you have god-killing experience too? If so lead the way."

"Well no, but you can't just show up and start ordering us around, right Bowser?" Truth be told she had no idea how they managed to convince the lizard tyrant to follow Palutena's commands but his strength was much needed.

"Would you two lovebirds quit wasting time?" Bowser snorted flames, pressing forward. "The others are making their moves, and I will not let that punk Mario beat me!" The ground shook as he ran.

"Lovebirds!" She screeched her face heated. "We just met!"

If the giant fire breathing lizard heard her he did not stop.

And a good thing too, the two gods were starting to collide.

XXXX

"Alright Mr. Godkiller, now what?"

He was starting to think that Lucina didn't like him.

That and that she had no idea what stealth was, there was a reason why when it came to dividing them up he took her, Bowser could be heard a mile away, and Palutena had a habit of glowing and randomly exploding things, which for a stealth mission left him with a very angry princess with a very sharp sword.

They were supposed to be infiltrating this castle filled with Nasty undead to fight Fucking Dracula, not just some guy called Dracula, but the actual vampire lord of the night that was one of Ryuji's favorite movies. It was times like this where he really missed his team. Where was Futaba and her google-fu when he needed it?

Going unnoticed was a vital trick for trying to steal something, and in theory, it could be applied to assassination as well, in that cause he's really just stealing someone's life. Besides, Dracula was undead, so it technically wasn't- okay, it was slightly murder. Could he put Dracula killer on his resume?

An empty throne room illuminated by a full moon stretched out before them. Damn, the king wasn't home, this was why he sent a calling card, it pissed people off and made them want to fight him. Not that he'd ever tell Mona that, really it was only Haru that enjoyed fighting as much as he did. But she was a Psychopath.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and some blue hair fell from above. She was going to say it wasn't she? He really hoped that she wasn't that bad. "He's not even here."

Yep, she was that bad. Dammit. Didn't she know about jinxing things? Apparently, loud, opinionated, princesses that could actually fight were just not his type. Which was a shame, because she was actually pretty cute. "Well now that you've said that he's probably right behind us glaring down at us waiting for us to notice him before we start fighting."

She gasped, hand flying off his shoulder and the sound of her sword being drawn echoed throughout the room. "Could you stop being right and start fighting?"

To say Dracula was intimidating was to say that Shido was a prick, right, but just didn't do it any justice. He was tall, pale, had red eyes, and kind of looked like he wanted to murder the shit out of his entire family and whatever village he happened to be living in. Basically just murder, pure unadulterated murder.

Unfortunately for all parties involved his natural instincts when faced with so much murder was his natural response to just about everything; being a smart ass.

"So, do you greet all of your guests by standing there menacingly without saying hello?" He twirled his knife in one hand and aimed his gun at Dracula's pale face. Fortunately, it appeared as though the cognitive effects of his rubber dagger and toy gun still worked in this world, which meant he could probably get away with something clever. "I'll have you know I have this pistol loaded up with Silver Bullets so-"

"Silver?" Dracula asked, his thin lips breaking into a small smile. "You're aware that's for werewolves are you not?"

"Wait really?" He looked to Lucina who was holding her very fancy and very sharp sword at Dracula.

She noticed his stare and returned it with a glare. "Why are you looking at me? How was I supposed to know that?"

"You're from a fantasy world! Aren't vampires weak to silver?"

"I am not from a Fantasy world! As for the silver weakness, I'm afraid I normally just rely on Falchion to-" She was very good at running her mouth, which meant she was great for distracting Dracula just long enough to start shooting him. Repeatedly. In the face.

He wasn't technically alive, so it wasn't technically murder! Besides, he was fairly certain that laws didn't exactly cross dimensional boundaries.

"A bit of warning next time!" She dropped her guard, just in time for a fireball to appear before her. Apparently, Dracula was mildly bulletproof. Or just not killable. But that didn't stop him last time.

He dove forward, pushing her out of the way, and tumbling to the ground as the fireblast grazed his shoulder, nothing a bit of food or, a quick heal spell couldn't fix. But holy shit did it hurt. It was like when Shido's shadow punched him in the face, but with fire. Tumbling over her he landed on his feet, just in time to shoot Dracula and watch him turn into a swarm of bats.

Fantastic.

The bats swarmed him, dodging his slashes, and biting at his arms, preventing him from grabbing his mask to summon a persona that could deal with multiple enemies at once, like Thor with his thunder spells. Then they stopped, flying behind him and he found himself staring at what could only really be described as a giant demonic bat. A muscle-bound punch already flying towards him.

"Joker!" Lucina called, jumping in front of him, sword at the ready. With far more ease than he thought possible she blocked the blow meant for him, deflecting it with her sword and counter-attacking, her sword cutting a wide swath in Dracula's arm.

She swung her sword again, again, and again, screaming with every direct hit like it would increase its damage. Dracula recoiled trying to block against her assault. "Joker! Do something!"

Huh? Oh! He was staring. "Sorry, there's just something attractive about a woman fighting like that."

"Idiot!" She scuffed renewing her assault while dodging and blocking Dracula's assault.

His foe was distracted, which meant he had plenty of time to unleash himself and go all out. He swung around to the back of Dracula, leaping from ruined pillar to ruin pillar, with a leap he was above Dracula. He knew just the persona to put him on Ice. "King Cool!"

A giant blob of Ice and snow appeared below him, falling downwards and engulfing their foe in biting cold. The blob turned into a smiling snowman holding a rod and began to spin, turning into a blizzard that collapsed down onto itself. There was a snap and the blizzard expanded into ice, shattering and fading, leaving a dazed Dracula in the core.

So Vampires didn't like the cold, that was good to know.

"Lucina!" He landed, next to her, dagger in hand eyes still locked on Dracula. They only had a few moments to strike. "Together!"

She nodded, and they charged.

XXXX

Fighting a god was an experience he would never forget. And seeing two opposing gods, one of light and order, the other of darkness and chaos going at it was another thing entirely. Their clashes were violent, tearing at the fabric of the world, causing shockwaves that did not vanish.

"They're going to destroy everything," Palutena, goddess of stating the obvious, said when he and Lucina appeared. Bowser nowhere to be seen. "It's just us three for now, what's the plan?"

He couldn't help but smile, what was it called again, the arrogant pride to challenge a god? Ahh, yes, that was about right, maybe he really wasn't paying attention to that windbag. "Try to get their cores together, can you two manage that?"

"You can count on me," Palutena smiled, twirling her staff and arming herself with a shield that shined like a mirror, her clothing was torn and burned in some places but she still held herself with the grace of a goddess. Hopefully, she never became his enemy.

"What are you going to do?" Lucina glared him up and down, the usual scowl on her face, even after he saved her from getting a fireball to the face.

"I'm going to summon a devil that will shoot both of them with a bullet of sin, and hopefully wipe them out with one shot."

It sounded crazier when he said it like that.


	2. Chapter 2

Why the fuck was he just standing there looking cool? It wasn't even looking cool, he was just standing there trying to look cool with his hand on his stupid black and white mask. Her own mask when she was trying to keep her identity from her father a secret was much better, if for no actual reason than it covered more of her face and actually hid her identity.

But this good for nothing show-off bastard was just standing there while she and Palutena did all the work! Seriously! Why was he acting like he was the hero that was going to show up at the very last second and save the day! Their day could have used saving any time during the last week! But no, he just had to act like he was the hero.

As soon as they were done with this she was going to shove her sword so far up his-

"Lucina," Palutena's musical voice drifted into her head like the thrumming of harpstrings from an open window, bringing with it a rainstorm of calm. Unfortunately, she was already an ocean of pissed the fuck off. "This anger isn't like you, keep your mind focused at the task at hand."

She screamed, not out of any physical pain - aside from a growing headache - but it was the best way to express just how must frustration was building up inside of her. She did not believe in letting her emotions get the better of her, she was a calm calculated fighter that relied on out thinking her opponent rather than out powering them. She had to. Still, she could see why others like Link, Cloud, and even Roy, would scream with all their might when they hit something.

It felt good. Damn good.

"It helps!" She tore her Falchion out from the fleshly chain like mass Darkron had attempted to assault her with, dodging out of the way of another just enough for it to slam into the ground beside her. Where she struck it screaming again. And no, she was not picturing Joker's smug ass face when she slammed down into it. She just happened to be looking in his general direction. "Me, Hit, Harder!"

Darkron screeched, its body writhing as she sliced clean through one of its limbs, the dark eye at the center twitching and spazzing like it was hyperventilating. This was their chance!

"Palutena!"

"On it!" The goddess of the sky land was a whole different monster during this fight. Her normally serene and benevolent expression that brought hope to their allies was now a visage of rage. She had been rather insistent upon battling Galeem her self, perhaps it had something to do with her being a goddess of light.

With, staff, magic, and shield she assaulted Galeem's wings and cores at once. Pit had once mentioned that his goddess had struggled to fight a bunch of living vegetables and that she was not much of a combatant. Now that couldn't be further from the truth. An explosion went off, knocking the central light down into to the ground, close enough to Dakron's eye, if the two beings acknowledged their proximity to each other they didn't show it.

She turned to look up at Joker. He was just standing there. Why wasn't he doing anything? This was what he wanted! She knew he was a good fighter, so she trusted him just a bit. A choice she was starting to regret. "Joker! What are you waiting for?"

A stillness settled the land, the calm before a storm, silenced the battlefield and all eyes drew skyward. The defeated spirits began to rise from the graves, floating towards the sky like a thousand stars dancing in the waves that grew in the clouds. Then it appeared, descending from the heavens like it was a natural occurrence.

"Oh my," Palutena's voice drifted through her head, there was something to that voice. Almost like she was impressed by it. "Do you think I can get his number?"

She had no idea what that meant, but the light blush that complimented Palutena's green hair explained a lot. Apparently, goddesses of lights might have a thing for gigantic leather-winged demons of darkness.

But, she had to agree, it was rather impressive. She was still mad at Joker though, at this point, it was a matter of principle.

A massive gun was pointed at the direction of the gods, the spirits swirling around it gathering in intensity and power gave her a very good idea that this was not the safest place to stand.

"Pillage them! Sataneal!"

XXXX

Technically speaking he was showing off - he really wasn't afraid to admit that - the raw amount of energy and desires flowing from the spirits around him it would be easy to fire the Sin Bullet twice and take out both gods one at a time. But he preferred the term efficient, really he was just making sure that he didn't use all the energy produced by the desires of the spirits, just in case there was like some super ultra mega fusion of the two gods that happened when they both died.

It was just the kind of arbitrary bullshit he'd expect from a video game. Or at the very least a the metacognitive what-ever representation of a world. He really probably should have actually listened to Futaba a bit more before coming here. But really nothing would have stopped him after the worlds 'It works' and 'it's safe, probably'.

Both the light and the darkness were fading now, the twisted landscape of their war slowly turning into something that could be called normal, although ruin spread out before across the horizons. Razed cities that held more danger than safety, forests filled with death and oceans of sand were all that awaited them after the battle.

But even a life of hardship was better than a life with no choice!

A smile broke out on his face, his heart pounding in his chest as he stared out at the battlefield, both Galeem and Darkron were beginning to fade, Lucina and Palutena were nearing their limit, and he only had one chance to pull this off, the last surprise for those that would be tyrants.

Maybe Makoto was right and he should consider a career in politics. But, if he did that, then he'd probably have to give up doing stuff like this and actually making a difference. Nah, that wasn't his style, he was a delinquent after all.

"Joker!" Lucina's shrill voice cut through his concentration, he could feel her judgemental glare blasting him from all the way over there. She might be scarier than Makoto on average, still a ways away from getting to Haru at her worse though - Ryuji was still terrified to go to the gym with her - she was probably on par with Sae though. "What are you waiting for?"

Her sword slammed into the main orb of Darkron, sending it towards the core of Galeem just as Palutena blasted.

The target was in his sight.

It was now or never, and his decision was already made.

He tore his mask, feeling that familiar rush of power boil up around him, it was his blood, sweat, and tears, manifesting into his true self, the enemy of tyrant gods, and the bringer of free will, the fallen angel that opposes order and welcomes chaos. Satanael.

The chains that once bound him now rattled helplessly, their shattered remains a sign of his defiant will that would not be shackled. The broken chains, a symbol for all those that looked up and saw Satanael's imposing form, to never give up, to change what you cannot accept and go even further beyond and change what you can not change to remove the limitations put in place over the heart and let free will run rampant.

The spirits of their foes and those of their fallen allies called out to him, begging to be used against these two tyrant gods that had consumed their world in a pointless war of light and dark. It was just like before when he fought against that god of chaos, the hearts of the entire world looking up at him and desiring victory.

It was only when the sinful desires of the entire world looked to him for guidance could he unleash the full power of the sinful shell. He had almost forgotten the raw exhilaration of this feeling. To be both Joker and Satanael. It was both terrifying and exhilarating.

With the gods in his sights, and the will of the world at his back he fired.

"Pillage them! Satanael!"

He forgot how loud that gun was.

The smoke cleared, revealing the shattered cores of both the dark and light, what little power the two tyrants once held crumbled, their forms vanishing like dust in the wind. But so to did their influence over the land, the areas ravaged by darkness, and those scorched by light began to collapse down upon themselves.

And the spirits that had aided him were fleeing the world in droves, creating a column of light as the world began to crumble.

Wasn't he supposed to save the world and not destroy it? Did he miss the bad guy memo? Well, Lucina wasn't yelling at him so it probably wasn't his fault that the horizon was currently eating itself. Mountains turned to valleys, deserts turned to turbulent seas, tranquil planes ignited into sweltering infernos and back again.

His path to Lucina and Palutena was a treacherous one as the floating islands they had been standing on were slowly becoming aware that they were defying physics. In a way, it reminded him of escaping Shido's Palace, just with a bit more of the danger. Debry assailed them, swarming the platform like angry bees made of stone and fire.

One grazed him, yep no, that hurt. A lot.

A Barrier that Palutena was maintaining looked to be the only safe place he could reach. And Naturally, he had to make an entrance, sliding down under the dome like barrier as it lifted just enough to let him in.

"Normally when I kill a god I stop the world from ending," He hopped back up onto his feet, giving Lucina a smile that earned him a sneer. "Not start it, what happened?"

It was Palutena that answered him, her staff spun above her in the same mesmerizing fashion that a ceiling fan did when it was to hot to breath. She'd probably look great in a bikini. But she was also a super old and listening to his thoughts right now. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, focusing on the barrier as the world fell down around them.

"This world was a causeway between realms, but it grew into a realm of its own, forcing many other realms in to contact with one another. Giving birth to conflict and strife, that in turn birthed both Galeem and Dakron. The two beings are so deeply ingrained with this world that their end means its end as well." Palutena gestured towards the sky where clumps of spirits gathered, spiraling, casting beams of light down onto the ground. "Now the realms are returning to their natural states and recalling their champions."

That sounded like a bunch of magic mumbo jumbo that could easily be summarized as 'boss dead, palace go boom.' Where was Futaba to translate this? "So, shall we make a daring escape to one of those portals while dodging fireballs, avoiding the leftover giant monsters and end up risking our lives to make certain that we all go home?"

"Why does it sound like you're excited about that?" Lucina pushed a strand of hair out of her face, glaring off to the side and keeping her arms crossed in front of her chest. For someone that had just helped him kill a god, she was a lot less excited than she should be. In many ways she was just like Makoto was.

"Well, yea," He shrugged.

"Of course," Lucina rolled her eyes, her resting bitch face game was so strong it felt like she slapped him. She turned to Palutena, "Is there any way for you to tell if my parents made it?"

Palutena nodded, "Of course, both Chrom and Robin are safe and on their way home," The ground shook, their little island in the sky crumbling to nothing. Perhaps standing still wasn't the best way to have this conversation. "Ahh, well perhaps we best make our exit, I should be able to send both of you home, so give me just a moment."

XXXX

Finally, she was going home. After what felt like a decade of fighting strangers, of becoming allies, and meeting legends, she was finally able to go home. Or at least the best version of her home. Wait, when Palutena said the realms were being restored, what did that mean? Was she going back to her world before she traveled to the past?

Worrying won't do anything, she learned that long ago. But knowing wouldn't hurt.

"What do you mean by-?" The ground beneath her feet gave way, forcing her to leap forward, into Joker. The ground continued to fall, but they did not. Whatever magic Palutena was working was keeping them afloat. She placed a single foot down feeling a solid surface that should not be there.

When she saw Joker's smug face that was so not hidden by his stupid looking mask she did the only natural thing. Push him away and huff. Competent and powerful he may be, but sufferable he was not. It didn't help that he just gave her that withering half smirk a moment later that made his face a very appealing target for her fist.

Despite what her mother - and just about every one of her father's retainers - said she did not hate men. She just hated idiots, which according to her father most men were. Joker just happened to confirm it. Besides, it was basically his name.

Palutena's chuckle reminded her that she had been glaring a joker for just a bit too long, the ground below them was shrinking, as a dull green portal grew in the clouds. "That's the last of them, all of our allies have made it through and are on their way home."

"So, just so we're clear we're done and we're not going to get surprised by some giant amalgamation of light and dark that will threaten to consume everything?" Joker spun his knife in his hand in a needless attempt to look cool, his posture was relaxed and she really wanted to punch him. Shame she wouldn't be able to have an actual match against him, but then again prolonged exposure to him could cause permanent brain damage. "Just wanting to make sure, because normally those kinds of things tend to monologue after you beat them."

"Nope, our job is done, thanks for all your help Joker," Palutena nodded, as they broke through the portal. It was green, very green and bright. But not so bright as to be uncomfortable, it was as though she was bathing in starlight.

"My pleasure, just be careful I'd hate to hear about you pushing your will on others." Despite his wink, she could almost feel the dare in his voice. He was one of those people that just enjoyed when bad stuff happened wasn't he? She couldn't wait to be rid of him.

Palutena gave a hearty laugh the back of her hand against her mouth, it went on for far to long. As the stars and spirits swirled around them. "I will keep that in mind, now then, it's time for us to say goodbye."

The barrier and whatever had been supporting them vanished. But they did not fall, simply floated in the air like swimming but without getting wet. Caught up in the currents of time being dragged down the river. To her home.

"Farewell!" Palutena's voice drifted as the light began to grow, she could hear them! See them! It was people! And some kind of a strong bitter smell that was like a strong warm tea, what was it called again, she had it once or twice before. Ahh yes, coffee.

Did dimensional travel normally smell like coffee?

It felt crowded. Like she was being shrunken down and stretched, her body becoming little more than grain that had been spared the harvest. Electricity shook through her and the very air buzzed. And everything felt really fuzzy.

A wooden room greeted her as she came tumbling forward out of an entrance way that was far too small. Her legs were still behind her and she braced before hitting the floor and crashing into the plain white shirt of who ever was in front of her, bringing both of them to the ground. Her entire body felt in numb, but not in the same way. The numbness was rolling about her body fading in her arms while growing in her legs and then reversing. It was disturbing.

She felt sick. Oh, gods, this was a lot more disorienting than time travel had been. She was going to puke.

"Woah! Akira, what the hell man! You weren't supposed to bring anybody home!" A male's voice that she did not recognize brought her attention upwards.

There were four of them in the room, a tall blond haired man that looked like a skinny version of Vaike was the source of the noise. The other three were women, one with blonde hair tied in twin tails, a brunette with a concerned look on her face, and a small orange haired girl sitting behind some kind of contraption.

She couldn't so much as speak, the numbness leaving her mind reeling, almost like the ground was moving. Wait, it was. The Akira person, right? The one she landed on? She managed to move her head just enough to see him push himself off the ground, pausing to rub his eyes for a moment before adjusting his glasses.

"Lucina?" It took her far too long to recognize the face and the voice as those of Joker. She blamed the numbness and not the fact that she was used to his mask. "What are you doing here?"

That's what she wanted to know! This wasn't home! Instead of words the only thing that came out was a heave.

"Ahh! Ryuji! She's going to puke! Get the bucket?"

Too late.

Wait, was the cat talking? Why was the cat talking?

 **AN: I switched one of the categories to Smash bros, largely to try and get a bit more of an audience, but also because it does apply to this. I'll probably change the category again when I update (again, it applies to a lot of stuff) Anyways! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was fun to write! I for sure enjoy how I'm writing both Lucina and Akira.**


	3. Chapter 3

"This is all your fau-" Lucina tried to mumble her glare fading to a small lurch, she was sitting on the edge of his bed, sword to the side, wearing the same blue and black outfit that looked like a high-quality cosplay of some edgy anime. Futaba might know a better anime or description. Wait, wasn't Lucina from some kind of a game. Futaba might own that game. A blech came out of Lucina as she clutched her newest accessory.

A bucket, that at this point had to be getting full of puke.

"Why can't I stop puking?" She whined stomping her feet, face still pointed at the bucket.

"Take it easy now," Makoto was the first to comfort her, falling naturally into the position of group mom. One that she claimed wasn't hers but everybody else said otherwise. She placed a hand on the woman's back rubbing small circles around it while sitting next to her. "You're still not feeling well, wait a bit before we start yelling at Akira alright?"

There was a heavy dose of 'I told you so' laced into Makato's voice.

Lucina nodded, belching into the bucket once again.

Morgana strutted up to the bed, bouncing up to the other side of Lucina to lick his paw, and scratch his ear in the standard cat-like fashion. "You know, when I first left the metaverse I was disoriented for a while too, It could be something like that. But I have no idea why she's here." With the flick of his tail, he could all but feel that cat smiling at him. "Maybe she has a crush on Joker?"

"Why can the cat talk?" Lucina's face looked sober as she glared at their mascot. "And can I kill it?"

"Wait, you can hear Mona?" Ryuuji's mouth had been open since they had fallen through the T.V. screen. It wasn't anything unusual, he did that to every pretty girl he saw except to Ann, much to her annoyance. Well except for Makoto, because she was scary, Haru lasted for a while before he realized that she was also scary.

It was only a matter of time before he realized that Lucina was as scary as Makoto. And had a sword. A sharp sword. One that was real.

"Yea, why is that Mona? I thought only those that are from the metaverse could hear you, why can uhh, what was her name again?" Ann's jealous glare only went unnoticed by the one it was directed to - and Futaba, but Futaba's social radar tended to be sporadic. Shame Ryuuji wasn't a third party in the event otherwise they could start a betting pool about when they'd get together.

Whatever response Lucina was going to muster up was silenced by the lovely sound of her vomiting into a sob, followed by a swear or two, and more puking.

"She's Lucina!" The clacking of her keyboard almost overpowered Futaba's voice as a single hand shot up from behind her computer screen. "She's a princess from Fire Emblem Awakening! Her father is Chrom but depending on the player's choices her mother can be one of five, technically six, characters, the one believed to be canon is the female version of the player's avatar called Robin!"

At some point, she was going to stop and breath, right?

"As to why she can understand Morgana" Apparently breathing was optional while she was nerding out. "The simplest answer is that because we used a makeshift version of the Metaverse to send Joker into Super Smash Bros, so they had to pass through it in order to return here. But it could be any number of things. As to why she's here?"

Futaba slammed both hands onto her desk and stood on her chair to look out at them all. "I have no idea!" She glared at him, pushing up her classes. "But really you had to grab something boring like a human?"

He could only shrug, it wasn't like he tried to drag Lucina into their world, and he doubted that she followed him here, given how she tended to roll her eyes whenever he spoke.

Lucina pulled her head out of her bucket, blue eyes glaring at Futaba with all the malice a person holding a puke bucket could muster. "What are you talking about? My mother is Robin! What game? How do you know all that? Where am I?"

"Well," Makoto began hand still on Lucina's back. "This is going to be hard to take in and process it, but you're from a video game quite a few, actually, I even have a super rare version of you on my phone."

"As to why you're here, I have no idea!" Futaba, slammed back down into her seat, fingers working on the keyboard again. "You see in order for us to even send Joker into there we had to create a cognition that he was supposed to be in Super Smash Brothers, and we had to hack the game awards for that to happen. In theory, you being here should be possible as you existed in a world beyond the metaverse but-"

"I believe I can explain that."

All eyes flew to his couch, where that tall green haired goddess was sitting like she had been there the whole time, she held a cup of coffee and a small plate. She took a sip and flinched away from the still steaming drink. "Oh, that's hot but rather tasty."

"Woah!" Ryuji jumped, eyes going wide. "Man Akira, how come you're so good at picking up chicks?"

Ann slapped him over the head.

"Hmmm, you're not my type, sorry Ryuuji." She blew onto her drink a few times before taking another delicate sip. A smile spread across her features. "Besides, this form won't be able to last long in this world, it's well outside of my domain."

"Palutena," He finally asked, standing off the ground, a balled up paper towel that was heavy with Lucina puke still in his hand. He walked over dumping it into her puke bucket, hopefully, that was clean enough, he'd spray it later. "Why are you here?"

How seemed a bit less important.

"To explain things mostly," She hummed, sipping her coffee once more. "Basically, the reason, why Lucina got sent to here instead of her own universe, is just a rather unfortunate consequence of her own actions. You see, when we defeated Galeem and Darkron, it restored all worlds to their Natural state. For most of us this didn't change a whole lot, but, because Lucina is a time traveler from the future and there was already a younger version of herself, she technically didn't belong in her own world."

Lucina groaned again, looking at the whole world with the same kind of exasperated contempt that his old homeroom teacher did every Monday. Maybe he should call Becky again. "But why did I end up here?" She pointed a finger his way. "With him?"

"Oh, that's because this world is the final bridge between the source world, it kind of functions as a catch-all, often throwing the excess of other worlds into the form of video games, stories, and other media, I even have my own animated short where I get attacked by vegetables here! Oh, and while you're here don't google yourself." Palutena polished off the rest of her coffee, resting the plate and cup onto the couch. "Or maybe do, some people draw me really cute."

"So I'm stuck here?" Lucina's voice wasn't as shaky as it had been moments ago, either she finally ran out of stomach content, or maybe she was actually feeling better. Which was good, because now she could finish cleaning the rest of his floor. Again, she glared at him with the flare she had when they were actually fighting. "With him?"

"For the moment at least," Palutena stood walking over to Lucina to place a hand on the girl's shoulder. It would have been a tender scene, but the puke bucket kind of ruined the whole thing. "But don't worry, I won't rest until you're able to return home, I'm certain that Futaba is already looking into the matter?"

"Yep!" She jumped up once again her long orange hair trailing after her like a comet trail and her glasses shifted slightly. "Just before you go I demand an autograph! From both of you!" With that, she was back at work typing away.

"And for my part, I'll be seeing if I can get some other beings to come assist you, as well as try to find a path to your own world. So please, Lucina do try to bear with it for a while."

Lucina nodded and let out a sigh, the normal amount of 'go fuck yourself' back in her glare before she smiled at Palutena. "If I must, I can endure this, just please if you can let my mother and father know I'm safe, my mother might even be able to assist you."

"It was already on my list," She gave a small bow to the whole group, smiling at them. "Well, it was a pleasure meeting the phantom thieves, do take care our out of place princess for a moment, consider it a personal request from a goddess of light. Oh, and tell Sojiro next time I want to try his curry, it smells delicious."

With a wave, she was gone. Just gone, no snap, no fade, just completely and utterly gone, the only reminder of her presence was the cup and dish sitting on his couch. How come visitors from another world sucked at cleaning up after themselves.

Taking the dishes down to the kitchen he paused, looking at his team and Lucina. "Anybody want curry?"

XXXX

She had only visited a cafe once or twice, maybe three times if she counted the number of times she ended up fighting in one during her stay in that uh, what did Palutena call it again? The causeway between worlds or something. And had only had coffee a few times when she joined Corrin's forces for a bit.

And the last time she had eaten curry fire literally shot out of her mouth.

"So, you're telling me that Joker, your leader, someone that defeated a god, works part-time at a cafe?" She looked over towards Makoto, so far she appeared to be the only sensible one out of the group. Ann was perhaps a close second. The person they called Boss sat at the countertop reading a newspaper, he hadn't even blinked an eye when she showed up.

"Don't knock the kid," Sojiro said smiling, tugging at his beard and smiling at her. "I taught him everything he knows about coffee and curry, he's on his way to being better than me someday."

She had no precedence to determine if that was a good thing or not, but coffee and curry did not sound like a good combo. But her now empty stomach was clambering at the idea of eating anything. She'd even eat her father's terrible cooking.

For his part, Joker barely looked up from the large pot that he was stirring. He glanced back just enough for the light to flash off of his glasses and nod before resuming his task. For someone so focused he sure did show off in the heat of battle. "He looks a lot different than he does in a fight."

Makoto laughed, tapping her hand against the table they were sharing. She held a small smile as her red eyes darted towards Joker. "It's the glasses."

"The glasses?"

She nodded. "The glasses, he wears them so people aren't as afraid of him. They make him look less intense, and they really bring out his inner dork. But take them off and he looks like a thug." She rested a hand on her chin, smiling over at Joker, "But that just looks, he's really a nice guy."

"Most of the time," Ann interjected, elbowing Makoto in the side. "When he's not being a smart ass. But, what about you Lucina?"

"Huh? What about me?" She crossed her arms over her chest and glared across the cafe towards Joker. "If you want my opinion on him, he's a able fighter crippled by a reckless need for showing off and needless grandstanding, and his personality is irredeemable."

"Harsh," Ryuuji tapped on the countertop, spinning in his stool the face Joker. "Akira you just going to let them talk to you like that?"

"Popular with the ladies I see?" Sojiro's chuckle spread his enjoyment through the building.

If Joker heard them he didn't care, if he did care he didn't show it, eyes focused on his cooking. The smell was starting to get to her. It almost smelled edible. But that could also be because her stomach was currently trying to eat itself. Maybe she shouldn't be trying to insult the person that was giving her a meal. For free.

"That, uhh wasn't what I wanted to ask." Ann shifted in her seat, bringing up her hands in front of her and pushing one of the large blonde pigtails that reminded her of her aunt to the side. She adopted a sad expression, clearly, she wore her emotions on her sleeve. "I just wanted to ask how you were dealing with the fact that you're stuck here. Not that we aren't happy you're here, it's just, I couldn't imagine being unable to return home."

She smiled tapping her fingers onto the table. Joker's friends were if nothing else empathetic, and if they shared his trait of looking deceptively weak then they might be powerful allies on the field of battle. Though she had her doubts about the cat.

"It's not my first time being forced away from home." Her hand fell to her Falchion that leaned against the seat, in many ways, it wasn't the real one, just an alternate one from another dimension, just like her. They were relics of a world that would never come to be and never will be. "After I changed the history of my own world, I ended up traveling through the gates to another, and then another, until I ended up fighting in the causeway, and now I'm here, the only difference is that I can't go back. Not yet."

They really didn't need to know about how much she had been looking forward to seeing her home once again.

"Besides, I'm a warrior, I relied on spellcasters or terrible luck to travel between the realms before, and with the pathways closed I'll just have to rely on others." It was annoying, sure, but it was a situation she had been in before, and one that she could get out of. "Though I think once I get back I'll stop realm hopping and relax with my family for a bit."

"Wait, you're a warrior? I thought Futaba said that you were a Princess?" Ann blinked, before reaching into her pocket and pulling out some kind of a contraption, was it a book? It looked far to thin for that.

"I was a princess, technically I still am, but I don't have any claim to the throne." Well in a way she does, just as her younger self. Time travel was confusing. Very confusing. She was also her own older sister.

The scent hit her first, a pungent smell that threatened to burn her nostrils and had her mouth watering as the first plate slid in front of her, the large ladle-like spoon - handle pointed right out her - was half submerged in the meeting point between the rice and the curry so red and hot it looked closer akin to lava than food.

A second wave of smell hit her, just as powerful as the first, forcing her stomach to growl despite her will power. Her limbs felt weak, probably due to low blood sugar, as she was reminded just how hungry she had been. Just looking at the plate made her tongue screech at the heat and sweat already began to form on her forehead.

Coffee, that sweetly bitter scent that was unforgettable followed suit as a perfectly poured cup of it was slid placed just within reach. She couldn't imagine these two items tasting good together, but she was too hungry to argue.

Joker slid two similar plates in front of Ann and Makoto followed by two drinks.

He then held up his finger, begging them to wait before he pulled out a small tubular container, and pinched a bit of spice. The fact that he was showing off while delivering their meal would have been enough to make her roll her eyes had it not been for the overwhelming hunger she was experiencing. With a flourish, he tossed the spice up above her plate allowing it to fall onto her plate.

He did the same for Makoto and Ann's the two of them laughing the whole time.

"Akira, stop being so Extra." Ann rolled her eyes, taking a spoonful of curry and blowing on it.

Despite her disdain for him, she had to admit, he could make some really good curry that had her hair standing on edge. And his coffee was fantastic.

 **AN: I love writing this fic.**

 **Please review! And spread the word, really hard to promote this fic.**


	4. Chapter 4

"Akira!" Futaba all but jumped down the stairs in an act of athleticism that was rare for her she landed on her feet and continued forward to the bar where she occupied her usual seat right across from the curry pot. All the energy vanished as she slumped onto the counter looking at him from behind her large glasses like a pathetic sloth. "I hunger!"

He nodded, a plate already half prepared for her. No matter how much Futaba threw herself into a project it was only a matter of time before her stomach won and she'd go searching for food. With but a moment and just the right amount of flourish he slid the plate of his extra spicey flavor packed curry in front of Futaba, his hand didn't even leave the plate before she had a spoonful in her mouth.

"Did you make any progress?" He asked her, pouring a cup of her favorite blend that she didn't know the name of and sliding it next to her. Sure, part of him wanted to send the blue haired sword happy princess home, as part of doing the right thing, but most of him just wanted to be Joker again. To let his true self for a few more hours.

Smash had been fun, but he wanted more.

Futaba hummed and snorted, a noise she made when she tried to eat and talk at the same time. She coughed, pounding on her chest before grabbing her drink and chugging it. It was a good thing that he didn't give her a hot coffee. "Blehm, bleh, It's like I said, it was only a one time trip, when we high jacked the show and forced them to all but add you to the roster as a DLC character all those fans pictured you entering the game, which gave us access to the world."

"Your switch is fried by the way, but I was able to get a lot of data on the whole event, we didn't quite connect to the metaverse, but we did pass through it, a bit. Probably because we used the T.V. and the switch instead of our phones. But for now, the path is closed again." Futaba plopped another spoonful into her mouth, actually chewing it for once. "Maybe if we make some kind of a mobile app that goes viral we'll be able to change public perception enough for us to travel with our phones into the metaverse."

"Woah!" Ryuji slammed his hands on the counter next to her, his eyes a bit puffy from the heat of his curry. He was half certain Ryuji only ate it because everybody else could eat it with ease. In Makoto's case, it was probably because eating Sae's cooking for years had left her tongue numb to actual food. "We're going to make a mobile game?"

"It's just an option, I doubt hacking our way into another video game we have absolutely no reason to be in would be a good idea, start to get diminishing returns on stuff like that. It's a shame we don't have someone that's more-" Futaba's spoon fell out of her hand her eyes growing wide, she spun on the stool and looked right at Lucina. "We do! I-I-I think I have an idea!"

Before anybody could stop her Futaba was out of her seat and the door, her plate still half full.

"She's certainly energetic." Lucina blinked, her plate of Curry nearly finished. So far she'd eaten all of it wordlessly, maybe she was like Makoto and had no taste buds? He could probably google that actually, there was probably a wiki page about her, there was a wiki page about everything. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Nah," Ryuji spun in his seat. "That's just how Futaba works, her brain works faster than her body sometimes."

Sojiro groaned, rising from his seat and popping his back. "Well, its close enough to closing time, fill Futaba's plate back up, I'll make sure she has plenty of energy to work on whatever you kids are up to."

He did as asked, filling the plate up with an extra flourish while smiling at Ann. She rolled her eyes. Some people just didn't understand his art, when was Yusuke coming back? "Thanks for putting up with me again."

"Bah," Sojiro rolled his eyes grabbing the plate. "I told you to stop with that, you earn your keep and well I can't see that room as anybody else's but yours. Well, try not to run up my electricity bill too much."

Makoto stood up. "Boss, could you wait a second, we have one thing we need to talk to you about."

"Uhh, sure, but what can an old geezer like me do for you?" He laughed, hand still on the door.

"Well, I doubt we'll be getting Lucina home tonight, so we need to find a place for her to stay." Makoto began.

"You don't have to worry about me, I can sleep pretty much anywhere." Lucina held up her hand. "I might be a princess, but I'm a warrior first."

He should introduce her to Haru, and then have Makoto take both them to kickboxing. Might be fun to watch. If it wasn't for the fact that he'd probably end up getting his ass kicked if he tried to watch them. Ryuji tried. Once.

Why were more than half of the girls in his life scary?

"We're not going to let you stay in the streets, or the floor if we can avoid it," Ann spoke up turning towards Sojiro. "Come on don't you have a spare room you can let Lucina stay in? It is technically the fault of Futaba and-"

"Oh no, no, no," Sojiro shook his head and pointed towards him. "I'm Futaba's guardian still he just rents the place upstairs for cheap, and while a lot of that has passed I still do have a case handler, and they might even come to do a drop by just to check on me. It'd be a different story if Sae still managed us, but she's not and Lucy is pretty much an illegal alien. One that's actually from another world."

"Lucy?" Lucina's face twisted as she whispered the word. If he had to guess, nobody had ever given her that nickname, but from Sojiro it was less a nickname and more that was actually what he thought her name was.

Makoto sighed, her shoulder slumping ever so slightly. "Well, I guess that answers that. Thank you Boss."

"For the record, I have no problem with her staying here." Sojiro looked right at him smiling. "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

In much the same way that he desired to make a grand entrance, he was starting to wonder if Sojiro had a thing for awkward exits. Or just awkwardness in general. Was he going to be that when he was old? Ahh, chills down the spine, yep nope, not a happy thought.

"There's no room at my place," Ann said frowning. "And Ryuji's is flat out." She turned towards Makoto. "Don't you have a spare room at your place?"

"I do, and unless she'd prefer staying with Akira, I guess I'm it then." Makoto sat back down pulling out her phone. "Give me a moment and I'll let my sister know we'll be having a guest."

"Thank you for your hospitality, but I wouldn't want to be a burden."

Ann waved her hand. "Non-sense, you went on an adventure with our leader, that basically makes you one of us." She gasped, tapping on the table. "Oh, we should give you a code name! And a mask!"

"Doesn't she need a Persona?" Makoto asked.

"She has a sword," he looked up from the dishes, wiping off his hands. Sojiro got mad when he left a mess after cooking. And getting his landlord, mentor, and more or less cool uncle figure mad at him was not high on the list. "She'll be fine in the metaverse." She shrugged, pushing up his glasses. "A code name would keep things consistent once we're in there."

Though ultimately useless unless they were going into another palace. Which wasn't off the table. The Metaverse was still there, lurking under the surface, he could feel it. Probably.

"How about Princess?" Ryuji added a half grin oh his face. "Because you know she's a-"

"Yes, yes, because she's a princess we get it Ryuji," Ann sighed resting on her hand. If she wasn't careful her eyes might roll out of her head.

"If I need a code name for this Metaverse, then you may call me Marth," Lucina reached into the small pouch she had and pulled out a small blue mask that looked like it would cover her eyes. It actually looked a bit like a masquerade mask in the shape of a butterfly. An edgy butterfly. "Will this do? It covers more of my face than his mask dose."

Where did she pull that from? Her pouch didn't look big enough to hold something that size.

"Oh, wow, that's really pretty Lucina, but why Marth?" Ann asked.

"It was the name of one of my ancestors, I've used it as my Alias before."

Makoto put her phone away, smiling up at them. "Well, with that settled my sister is okay with you staying with us. And we should get going if we're going if we don't want to miss the train."

Ann what out of her seat in a heartbeat. "You aren't kidding! How'd it get so late? Come on Ryuji we need to get going."

"Train?" Lucina asked. "You have trains here?"

Oh, looks like he was going to miss Lucina having technology shock. Which was weird, considering how he was fairly certain they fought on a space ship. And the T.V. had been on the whole time, and she had been watching everyone use their phones, saw the computer Futaba built in his room for their experiment.

Ehh, she'd be fine. Probably. Still, Marth seemed like a bad name, her mask was a butterfly so that would have been a good code name.

"I'll text you when Futaba explains her idea." He paused putting the last of the dishes away. "Or if she passes out again."

Maybe he should google how people like playing his character tonight. It was kind of awesome being a video game character.

XXXX

This was a city.

That was the only way to properly describe what she was seeing right now, but to apply that word to this place meant she had to strip it from every other location. Even the empressive size of her home Ylisstol, capital of Ylisse paled in comparision to the sheer amount city that she was seeing, it was almost as though the whole world had been engulfed by it.

The first tower she saw, tall enough that it scrapped at the heavens, was so grand in size alone that she had thought it the home of nobility. Then she saw the second, the third, the fourth, and her mind raced to keep up with it all. She had seen similar cities, or rather similar buildings in much smaller scale during her stay in the Causeway, but this was on a whole nother level.

"You'll get used to it" Makoto said, either she could navigate this maze like city or she was just as lost as she was. She doubted she could find her way back to the small alleyway street joker was. Makoto turned to smile at her now walking backward. "Tokyo is the largest city in the world after all."

Oh was that all?

"How many people live here?" She couldn't help but ask, they were at the base of one of the towers now, its height was making her dizzy just looking at it.

"Last I checked close to 14 million." The flippant way she said that like she was stating that the sky was blue, did little to deminish the sheer weight of that number.

There weren't just more people living in this city than there were people living in Ylisstol, there were more people living here than in her whole country. Several times over! She had to be exaggerating. Or maybe she simply misspoke. There was no way that so many people could live in a single city.

A crowd exploded around them when they stepped out of the road and onto a dazzling pathway that was so bright that it might have been daylight. There were more people here than the busiest market day. More of those monolithic buildings jutted up from around them, dominating the sky line so that only a square of the starry sky could be seen.

Images and movies played on screens far larger than she had ever seen, and people entered and exited buildings completely blind to them. It felt like there were more people here than in any battle she had been a part of. She disbelieved Makoto's number now for a completely different reason.

A few of the people stared at her, pointing, and holding up those same strange devices that Makoto and Ann had showed her. What was it? A Phone? A flash went off blinding her for a moment. "What are they doing?"

It didn't hurt or anything.

Makoto shrugged grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her through the crowd. "They think you're a cosplayer," she had no idea what that was. "When we get home we'll have to see if any of my clothes fit you, I think we're about the same size."

Clothes? Clothes meant fashion! It was her one true vice, though her mother did find her choice in fashion to be rather questionable. Not that she was one to judge she wore the same robe to every event. Even her own wedding! Maybe she'd be able to get some unique clothing from this world.

Makoto led them through the crowds like ferrymen navigated a river. They stopped at a giant staircase that went downward. It was brightly lit and magnificent, as though someone had mixed the summer springtime bazaar with the catacombs to create something beautiful, there were more people down here. Almost like a whole second city below the first. Down here it was hard to imagine it being night.

Did people ever sleep here?

They passed through several gates and checkpoints, only getting stopped once by a guard to ask her about her sword. But a flash of Makoto's phone and a ridiculous pose later and they were set free. Apparently, she was mildly famous in this world and everybody just assumed she was cosplaying.

A screech tore from the depths, less beastlike and more artificial like a sword glancing off a shield. A crowd of people excited what looked to be a to small space for so many people only for more people to enter it. After a few minutes that small building began to move that same screeching noise zooming away.

"Good," Makoto said checking her phone. "We're right on time our train should be here in a moment."

She was not going to say something stupid and call it a screeching metal dragon that was taking people to the underworld. She was not a barbarian. But, she still did think that a little bit. "That's a train?"

"Yep, they're the best way to get around in Tokyo, if we were to walk I think it'd take a couple of hours to get my home, this cuts the time down to ten minutes." Makoto smiled at her and pulled her towards a picture that was nothing but black lines, colored lines, and names. "We're here," Makoto pointed towards a point where a bunch of colored lines met up and dragged her finger along a purple line. "And we're going here."

It was a map. That was a map? How did people navigate this city? Her head was starting to hurt just thinking about this. Maybe they didn't even need to, some of them could probably live in those towers and never have to leave.

A moving picture on the wall moved, flashing to something she recognized. "Fire Emblem Heroes! Spring event rerun." was written in shining gold letters. Then it showed a "Spring Exalt." showing her father.

Wearing an adorable pair of bunny ears. A suit that mother would no doubt find absolutely dashing on him. And wielding a large ax that was decorated with carrots. It brought a smile on her face seeing him like that.

"Spring Exalt" flashed across the screen again.

Followed by her.

Wearing a bunny hood. And wearing a rather cute but frilly outfit that would have matched her fathers perfectly. It appeared as though she was wielding a colorful egg as a weapon. She liked the hood but the rest of the outfit just seemed impractical.

But why a bunny?

 **AN: I was looking forward to writing this all week.**

 **Trivia note. Lucina has terrible fashion sense and even seems to enjoy bad fashion. I discovered this fact and was sad because I couldn't have her freak out about her fire emblem heroes spring outfit.**

 **Next chapter will be Akira light depending on the legnth.**

 **Like my stuff? Support me on Ko fi! Ko-fi / Yojimbra all proceeds go to feeding me.**


	5. Chapter 5

She was stuck inside of a metal tube that was screeching like an angry wyvern and grinding like a sword on the grindstone. Darkness enveloped them, only the odd light illuminating the man-made tunnel like lonely islands in a starless sky. All the others on the train - as Makoto had called it - acted like this was the most normal thing in the world, somewhere even reading books!

Makoto was acting like they weren't riding some metallic dragon! Wait, no it was like a land ship. She was just sitting on the seat without a care in the world as this beast took them where ever they were going. She knew she should have-

Whatever thought had been bubbling inside of her died when the tunnel vanished and gave birth to a city without end at the hour of twilight, the sun dying the sky shades of orange, pink, and purple, as it neared the horizon. Her sense of scale had been way off on how big this city was. Way off. In the distance, she could make out the beak of a great mountain that was spared from the horizon due to its sheer height.

Buildings, roads, and giant towers all blurred together into a massive cityscape. It began to shine, as though the stars did not call the sky their home but rather these buildings clustering in numbers that she couldn't even fathom. The sea of stars before her was just as grand as it was terrifying.

"Does it ever end?"

"Eventually," Makoto shifted onto the seat, placing her knees against it so that she matched her pose to look out the window. She pointed towards the horizon, towards a shimmering sea. "It generally stops at the ocean, that's Tokyo Bay, on the other side of that there are some docks then it turns into mostly farmland." her finger shited to point towards the mountain. "And that's Mount Fuji, Tokyo kind of stops halfway to it. But don't worry, even in Japan there's plenty of green."

"How do you not get lost? Even with a map, I fear I couldn't navigate this city." Sadly, she did not receive her mother's logistical mind, thankfully she did receive her father's ability to get lost in his own castle either. But how they'd feed such a city, or even organize its defenses, what about their leader?

Makoto simply shrugged, pushing a strand of her brown hair from her face and shaking her head to sit back down onto the bench. "We're used to it I guess, its also easy to read the signs and find a train station that has a map of the city, that and most of us have cellphones. I'm sure you'll get used to it." She laughed, "Though, maybe you best not go out on your own for a bit."

Hopefully, there'd be a path home before that came to pass. Still, the history of this world intrigued her, perhaps if she wasn't stuck here she'd be more keen on exploring it. And find out why she was wearing a bunny hat, and probably find out where she could get it. It'd match the bear hat she had at home.

The train stopped twice and Makoto led her through a mile of streets before they arrived at a large building that loomed higher than the castle at Ylisstol. It stood across from the first parts of this city that weren't covered in buildings, it was a large park that had trees and several illuminated walkways weaved through the foliage like sparkling spider webs.

Three flights of stairs later and they arrived at Makoto's home. Or rather what she called an Apartment. It was both smaller than she thought, and yet, larger. The doorway revealed a cozy well-furnished home that was completely separate from the outside world. It was like that city Tokyo simply didn't exist.

She also learned that Morgana was unique and that not every cat talked.

"My sister should be here soon," Makoto, locked the door behind her and began to slip off her shoes, taking a moment to put some slippers on. Oh, it was like that Hoshidan custom.

"I'm already home." A voice came from the down the entrance way, and a tall woman with ashen brown hair appeared, she was by all accounts a very beautiful woman. She paused, looking at her for a moment, a bit of food was pinched between her fingers.

Why was she staring? Did she look funny? Oh! She was supposed to take her boots off! Placing one hand on the wall she began the process of removing her boots, a task that was easier said than done with how long they were. Also, her feet hurt. "Umm," She said, pulling the right one off halfway and forcing a smile. "Hello, I'm Lucina."

"I see that." Makoto's sister - what was her name again? Didn't Makoto say it was Sae? - nodded slowly taking another bite. She had the same brown almost red eyes that Makoto did with all the same fire. Sae turned to Makoto swallowing. "Why is there a Lucina cosplayer in our home?"

There was that word again.

Makoto took a step forward, placing one hand on her shoulder and giving the same kind of laugh her father did when her mother caught him doing something weird. Like eating an orange before peeling it. "Well, she's not a cosplayer, but how do you know who she is?"

"What do you mean she's not a cosplayer? I'm fine with her staying here for a while, but I think I'm going to need an explanation." Sae sighed pinching the bridge of her nose as she deflated. "And here I thought becoming a defense attorney would mean I interrogated fewer people."

With one last tug, she freed her other foot, gods that felt fantastic. "I truly am Lucina, daughter of Chrom and Robin, and princess Ylisse, after saving my world I traveled to other worlds and ended up in the causeway where I battled against Galeem and Darkron, it was there I met Joker and after our victory, I ended up trapped in this world." She grabbed Falchion, holding in front of her while kneeling on a single knee. "Thank you for allowing me to stay here until I find a way back home."

"Wait. She's actually Lucina?" Sae placed a hand against her head and began to massage it, her mother often did something similar when she got a headache - she often named them after her husband. "As in literally Lucina from Fire Emblem? And its Akira's fault?"

"Yes." Makoto sighed, hanging her head down. "Well, mostly, But how do you know so much about Lucina?"

"I'm going to throw him back in jail and throw away the key." Sae groaned, taking another bite of her food. She chewed it slowly staring right at her. "Well, come sit down, I want to hear the full story." She forced a smile glaring at the wall for a moment before turning back down the hall. "For evidence."

Being interrogated - and that was the correct word for it - by Sae was easily worse than any other time she had been, even worse than Fredrick or her own mother. Not that Sae was harsh, simply that she was thorough. Fortunately, Makoto was there as well to take at least some of the pressure off her. It felt like the whole experience had deepened her bond with Makoto.

Sae groaned, leaning back into her chair looking somewhere between pissed off and done with everything. It was the same look her mother had when her father did something stupid - or she did. "So you let both Akira and Futaba attempt to open up a portal to the metaverse?"

"Yes," Makoto winced. "I didn't think it'd actually work and they did go through all the work of-"

"Hacking into a global event and broadcasting a trailer?"

Makoto shrank back down into her chair and looked far to young at that moment. "It was well put together."

"Also," She sat up, sitting with her back straight. "Despite his personality, Joker was a big help in the battle against Galeem and Dakron, he even saved my life twice, so I don't think that he should be punished for his actions."

"I understand your point of view, this is mostly to sate my own curiosity and tease my little sister." Sae smiled, "Besides I'm not a prosecutor anymore even if I am Akira's defense lawyer. It's my job to keep him out of trouble."

Sae stood, popping her neck and allowing herself to relax. "Well then, I won't stop him from trying to get you home Lucina, just make sure he's doing it for the right reason. Now then, I have a case in the morning so I need to study up on it and rest, so try to keep the noise down."

"Wait," Makoto sat back up. "You never explained how you knew so much about Lucina."

Sae paused at the hallway, caught midstep and mid-thought before she continued onwards. "Just a moment, I think I have something."

She looked towards Makoto who simply shrugged.

Sae returned a moment later with a blue object that was the size of a letter with the thickness of a book as well as a cord. She flipped it open, blowing on the inside and removing some dust. "This was a gift from a boy that liked me in high school,"

Makoto gasped, Sae glared.

"I think he wanted to get me into his hobbies, but then he moved and we stopped talking, still, I played the game and its actually the only one I ever played." Sae sat the device down in front of her, there were two screens on it like a T.V. or Makoto's phone. Words that she recognized sat on the top screen. 'Fire Emblem Awakening' "It's the game you're from, or uhh the game you're in. Huh, never thought I'd be talking to someone from a video game. You can play it if you'd like. Makoto can show you how."

"Huh? But I don't know the first thing about games."

"Just put it on easy."

XXXX

Things tended to get boring once the shop closed and everybody went home, it didn't really help that his switch was no fried. He'd have to spend another week's paycheck to replace it, he might even need to buy a third one if he wanted to get Lucina home.

And he really had no idea how on earth he was going to do that. Probably by breaking something, he was good at that. Plus that one really hot goddess lady Palutena said that she was going to try and help. He paused looking around his room, half expecting her to show up if he thought about her.

All clear, it was just him, his plant, Morgana and Futaba's contraption.

Maybe he'd try to google her and Lucina, for research and embarrassment purposes. Futaba probably knew where to find the embarrassing stuff, she'd probably just laugh make a joke he'd only half understand and then send him a link to some subreddit or something. Maybe Mishima would know. He played pokemon.

Holy crap he was starting to sound like his father where all games were pokemon. But they were from Nintendo. He knew that much! He even had one when he was a kid. It was probably still back at his dad's place.

"You've had a rough day." Morgana began, letting out a soft purring noise as he kneaded at his spot on the bed. He really should think about getting him a cat tree or his own bed or something. Morgana let out a yawn looking right at him. "We should probably call it a night."

The cat did have a point, and it wasn't like he was doing anything else at the moment. He stood from his desk, popping his neck twice. The Metaverse had always been draining, but this time it felt different he was a weird mix of could stay up all night and sleep for the next seventy-two hours. Shame he had class in the morning.

Wait didn't Makoto have her college class too? Who was going to watch Lucina. Not that the blue-haired warrior princess couldn't take care of herself, it was just that the way she handled herself might be a little on the stab-happy side. He already unleashed one horror in the form of Haru onto the world he was not going to be responsible for another.

Oh, maybe he should see if -

A buzz came from his phone, followed by another, then another. Hopefully, this wasn't someone Sae yelling at him. Or Makoto informing him that Lucina killed a guy for slapping her ass. Not that he'd blame her. Or the guy, Lucina had a nice butt.

The messages were from Yusuke. It was in his standard three message form that normally happened whenever Futaba asked something from him in the middle of the night. There was the confusion, the acceptance, then the demand.

"Why is Futaba messaging me about… pixel art? And what is this 64 bit she's referring to?" Yusuke's text read. "Why does she need them? What's the purpose? Are we planning another hack?"

"Very well I shall attempt to conquer this medium!" Yusuke's text declared. "Ohh, I can feel the inspiration building inside of me."

"Have Mona take some pictures of you in action poses I will need them if I am to finish by tonight!" Yusuke's text demanded.

It was Ten. At Night. With a shrug, he tossed the phone the to Mona. "Take some pictures, I'll send them."

"What?" the talking cat screeched, bouncing out of the way of his phone. "What happened to bed?"

"Bed can wait." He grabbed a pen spinning it around like it was a dagger before holding it in a very joker like pose. "When Yusuke says pose you pose!"

Morgana groaned. "How on earth am I supposed to use this thing! I don't have thumbs!"

"You repaired our van without them, you can take pictures."

 **AN: Yea... Sae played Fire Emblem. I bet she even has it on her phone to. Ha Weeeeeeb! Wait... shit.**

 **Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully next one will have more stuff happening right now we're kind of heavy on the slice of life slowness.**


	6. Chapter 6

Somehow, classes just seemed to be even more boring than usual it was probably the adrenaline still coursing through his body from yesterday. He did kill it in baseball today even going so far as to knock the ball out of the schoolyard with a grand slam, maybe he should take Ann and Ryuji's advice and join a sports club or something.

But scoring points wasn't as appealing as leading a silent rebellion against those with corrupt hearts. And fighting shadows, showing off, and being free to be who he wanted to be. At this point, Akira was starting to feel like just another Persona. There was a rush about being Joker that just wasn't there in his day to day life.

It was why his father and stepmom had allowed him to move back here to finish his third year of school. He just didn't look happy in his little home town that could barely be called sleepy, more like dead. Apparently, his biological mother traveled for a similar reason. Maybe if after high school he could take a year off and travel with her.

Or he could stay and pressure Futaba into ripping over the metaverse so he could -

Danger.

He leaned to the side dodging a piece of chalk and looking right at the social studies teacher that a habit of throwing and raised an eyebrow. He wasn't really paying attention, Mr. Ushimaru didn't need to know that.

"Mr. Kurusu, if you are paying attention, then you should be able to answer a question." The teacher glared at him, this was a weekly dance that did where he'd get in trouble for not wanting to be in class and the teacher would ask him some random question. "What is the passing on of history by word of mouth called?"

Really? That was the question? That was like a third-grade question. "Oral History."

And queue the long-winded explanation about how different cultures used it and how it developed, on the plus side he was now free to go back to daydreaming.

"Psst," Morgana mewed from his desk, pushing his phone into view. "Makoto texted you, it could be important if she's messaging you during class."

There had been multiple searches for the ghost cat of Shu'jin academy, the janitors even went under the floorboards to try and locate it, needless to say, multiple students knew that it was his cat, but they just enjoyed spreading rumors that the school was haunted.

He tapped on his phone and swiped on Makoto's Image.

"Don't read this in class." to late! "I'm going to be in class late today, and Sae's case will probably be going late as well, after school could you please go check on Lucina? I think she stayed up all night playing that video game she's in."

Was that a form of masturbation?

Asking her that would probably get him punched. With a few well-placed taps he sent his reply. "Can't Haru do it?"

"She doesn't have a key to my apartment, besides she's still on the plane." She responded minutes later. "And pay attention in class!"

Ever the mother hen.

"I don't have a key either."

"No, but you do know how to pick a lock."

"Just so we're clear, you're giving me permission to break into your apartment?" He smiled, tapping in the follow-up. "I'm asking so that when I get arrested for breaking in that I have evidence."

He could all but hear her groan from across the city. "Yes, you have my permission to break into my apartment TODAY. But knock first."

Neat. He got to break into an apartment. Even if it did mean dealing with his very angry warrior princess. Still, dealing with her should be fine, he'd just have to make sure her sharp pointy thing stayed in its sheath. Actually should probably make sure she didn't take it. As to how she didn't get arrested when Makoto took her last night was probably due to Makoto.

And here he thought the only interesting thing he was going to do today was watch Ann's photo shoot. Purely for emotional friend support and not because of any of the cute girls. That and either Futaba was still working at whatever project she was obsessed with or she was catatonic so his schedule was packed with an abundance of free time.

Now he got to break into Makoto's home and deal with the stabby princess.

Class was over before he knew it and he was on his way.

Makoto's home was easy to remember, namely because he spent over an hour in her closet when Sae came home early. She panicked, they weren't even dating. Thankfully Sae never actually found out about that… he hoped, the whole truth drug thing was still really fuzzy and was probably why he was so messed up actually.

Wait no, he was like that before.

After a train ride and doing a fantastic job of acting like he belonged he stood in front of Makoto's door and knocked. Once. lightly. He technically knocked. And there was no response. No one was looking, no one was answering the door; time to break in.

Maybe he should consider becoming an actual full-time thief, or rather a phantom thief, akin to Lupin the third. But then he'd get arrested again in no time. And jail was not fun. Besides, no doubt everybody would be disappointed in him including him. There were so many choices with what to do with his life, and all of them sounded terrible.

Maybe he really did peak in high school. Well, last year anyway.

The door clicked open with a jiggle and he strode into Makoto's apartment. It was exactly as stiff as he remembered it being, with two piles of papers on the dinner table being the only thing that could be considered dirty. Aside from his thoughts, but those were always wholesome.

Aside from the clicking of a clock, there was light music playing and a soft snoring sound.

"Wow, she's passed out." Morgana hopped out of his beg and stretched along the couch before preening. "I guess video game addiction is universal."

Sure enough, laying on the couch in a pose that he had seen Futaba in many times was Lucina. The Pajamas she was wearing were bundled up, exposing her slender stomach that had just enough definition to make half the models and worked with jealous. The blanket was half on one of her legs while she drolled into a pillow, one hand was clutching a Gameboy that was plugged in and still on.

Surprised both Sae and Makoto let her get away with staying up all night to do that. Let alone sleep until after three. Weren't they the ones that had it together?

"So, how do you wanna wake her up?" Morgana purred, licking his paw, tail flicking back and forth.

If it wasn't for the sword that was resting dangerously close to her other hand he'd probably try to be an asshole and wake her up with a bang. But he'd seen what she could do with her sword, and unlike him, she was probably still really good at using it when not in the metaverse. Best to do things gently.

"Princess." He clapped his hands lightly.

She snorted turning to bury her face into the pillow, followed by a small groan. "Five more minutes Fredrick."

He blinked looking at her for a few moments, his brain currently taking in the sight of her new position that confirmed what he had thought early. She really did have a nice figure, especially her butt. "Does Fredrick normally let you sleep until three in that afternoon?"

"Mmm-hmm," She moaned into the pillow. Then she opened up her blue eye and looked right at him, that weird symbol he saw in it was more prominent now. It was kind of like a cool contact. "Did you say it's three?"

Well, she was wide awake now. He nodded pushing up his glasses. Still, he'd probably sleep until three if he didn't have anything to do.

"Oh gods, I haven't done that since I was on watch duty." She groaned, sitting up while rubbing her eyes. A short yawn followed by a stretch and he had to admit that she was adorable when she was waking up. "Why are you here? Where's Makoto?"

"I broke in, to watch you sleep." He leaned onto the couch, putting on his best smile that didn't fade even when her pillow slammed into his face.

Her face was red, likely from a mixture of fury and embarrassment. There was something so pleasant about teasing her. It was food for his soul. She made noises, her tiredness was all but gone as she tried desperately to speak. "I. That. Er. Why are you like this?"

He shrugged, "Because you make it so easy. Makoto and Sae are going to be late tonight, so I'm on princess babysitting duty."

She glared at him, tinges of red still lined her cheeks, arms crossed over her chest. "I assure you I'm fully capable of-"

"Where's the nearest place to get food?"

No answer.

"Do you have any money?"

No answer.

"What apartment are you in?"

No answer.

"What-"

"Okay fine!" She shouted, both arms going to her sides. "I could use a guide in this city, but I refuse to acknowledge you as my babysitter." She let out a breath and pushed some of her long blue hair behind her head. "Just give me a moment to get dressed."

He nodded, readjusting his glasses. "We're going to meet up with Ann for her photoshoot, then probably get something to eat."

She paused on her way to Makoto's room, her face scrunched up with a single eyebrow raised. "Photoshoot?"

"Its where pretty girls get their photos taken," Morgana mewed, stretching on top of the couch. "And Lady Ann is a model."

"I see," She didn't sound like she saw. Not by a long shot. "Very well, give me a moment."

Unlike Makoto, Ann, or Haru, Lucina was actually quick at getting dress, only beat by Futaba who would shrug and throw on the first thing she grabbed. After a minute she emerged wearing -

"Are you really going to wear that?" Morgana asked, his tail flicking in annoyance.

It wasn't that Lucina's clothing was bad, it was just that, it was odd. And the only reason it wasn't bad was that her natural beauty made it so that no matter what she wore she'd look decent in. Like Ann, she could look attractive wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

"What? What's wrong with it?" Lucina spun, causing the plad Shujin academy skirt that Makoto used to wear to rise up a bit. It was held up by a set of suspenders that went on top of a white crop top with a bunny on it. Her hair was forced back by her crown thing. The whole outfit left her mid-drift exposed. Again, she didn't look bad, just odd.

"Don't be so picky," he petted Morgana's head down. "He's just picky, you look cute."

Her eyes went wide, and that faint tinge of pink returned. "Oh, well, thank you. Though, as nice as the clothes Makoto lent me are, I'd still prefer to have my own, is there a way for me to earn money so I can go shopping?"

"I can help you find a job," He shrugged, "But you might be back home before you even get paid." He turned towards the door, "Now come on Ann's waiting."

XXXX

"Yes! Fabulous darling fab-u-lous!"

"Just like that, give us a little more oomph!"

"Yes yes!"

It was official, she had no idea what was going on. There was a lot of flashing and every time Ann seemed to move the slightest bit as she posed on top of a bike, or around it. It was in short a strange ritual. And a rather boring one, she'd rather be back at Makoto's home playing that game.

It was so strange, it was an accurate retelling of the wars her father fought and even her own arrival, but there were some inconsistencies, such as her mother being able to be a male, but that didn't matter once she made her mother look just right - that was something that took well over an hour - but the game was enjoyable.

Even if she had to restart some levels every so often when somebody died. Her mother made certain that none of the shepherds died with her tactics, she would do the same!

"Lady Ann sure is wonderful isn't she?" The talking cat said from Joker's shoulder. Was it weird that a cat was infatuated with a human and lusted after her? Yes. Yes. it was.

Joker, said little, and just kept his eyes locked forward with one hand in his pocket. He really was rather quiet when he had his mask off. Almost like he was a different person, save for spark in his eyes.

"Antonio," Ann whined, falling onto the handlebars and pushing her hair back. "How much longer? My friends have been waiting for half an hour?"

The small, balding man that wore it like a badge of honor simply waved it off, holding up his camera for another shot. "Nonsense dear, your friends should be happy to see you work!" He turned to them smiling. "Isn't that right dea-"

He stopped eyes wide before he skipped over to them. "Oh, my dear! Ann! You didn't tell me you had such marvelous friends!" The strange looking man grabbed her by the hand. "You there! How would you like to be my model for today? I can pay you in cash today!"

"All I have to do is stand still while you take photos?" Money meant she could go shopping. Which meant she could get a bunny hat! Or any of the other countless other neat garments she had seen on the way here. Truly when it came to shopping this world was in a league of its own.

"And strike a few poses while looking absolutely radiant!" Antonio gave an exaggerated blink while rolling his head. It was then that he laid eyes onto her sword. Oh my goodness, and you have your own prop! Simply amazing."

"Alright, I accept."

"I knew you would, now then, we need something to match your beauty." It was at that point that the strange man laid eyes on Joker and she could all but see those frightening fireworks going off in his mind. "You there! Boy, come here, I will use you as a prop as well."

Joker nodded and before they knew it they were ambushed by a woman that pulled at their hair and clothes, adjusting it in a dozen of ways. Ann and Morgana laughing all the while.

When her senses returned she found herself looking at Joker. His glasses were gone and she could see that raging fire that was buried in his eyes, his messy black hair was now to his advantage falling just over his eyes to dull just enough of the edge he carried. How could such a simple change, change so much?

He smirked and she could feel her knees shake.

"Yes! That's it!" Antonio's voice dragged her away from him for half a second. "Oh, you're so into each other I love it! Now! You girl, take your sword and put it to his neck, I want to feel the tension of this. Think star crossed lovers, no! Worse! Channel your inner Tsundere, you are an assassin! He is your target, but you cannot kill him!"

She really had no problem drawing her sword and pointing it towards Joker's neck.

"You're not going to slip are you?" He asked somehow still very much smirking at her despite Falchion being less than an inch from slicing his neck.

"Don't tempt me." She growled.

"Yes! I can feel the energy! Oh, you're so beautiful I could kiss you both!" Antonio waved his hands taking multiple photos from different angles. "Now take a step closer, keep the sword pointed at him, but lesser, like you're being overtaken by your feelings. "

Joker took that single step forward, forcing her to draw Falchion down and away from his throat unless she were to stab him. He was an ally, and she did not harm her allies. Even if he was an insufferable show-off buffoon of a man that had really handsome features and oh gods what was she thinkings?

Maybe Aunt Lissa was right and she did have terrible taste in men. Not that Joker was to her taste. He was the exact opposite. He had maybe one, or two redeeming qualities and the rest was pure and utter trash!

"Yes! Now! Boy! Push her hand out of the way by the wrist, and get even closer."

"Wha-" what? What what what? Closer? How much closer could he -

Joker took that step forward, pushing her arm to the side so that Falchion was pointed down and away from them. Flashes went off at the edge of her vision and she could no longer feel her legs. He was looking right at her what was she supposed to do?

Her cheeks felt hot, red hot, as though the fire in his eyes were burning her alive. Was this really the same person she had been dealing with this whole time? She tried to look away.

"Yes! More!"

"Bear with it," Joker whispered sending a shiver down her spine that was colder than even the coldest mountain trail. Finger found its way under her chin and pulled her head upwards so that she was forced to look him in the eyes. Oh no, oh gods no!

"Now!" She heard from her surroundings. "Go in for the kill! Kiss her!"

Kiss?

Joker stepped away from her, and she felt nothing but relief wash over her. "No, I think that's far enough."

Antonio jumped up between them. "Ahh, but you're right of course, the intent is more important than the action. And I could feel the intent between you! Ack such Natural chemistry. Have our dear Ann give you my number I'd be willing to shoot you two any time."

"So we're done?" Joker asked placing on his glasses, hands back in his pocket and that aura that he had moments ago was gone again. Makoto was right about those things.

"For today I suppose, I know just the company that will want some of these shots, ahh but what am I saying, your pay, I'll give you some today and if any of these get used I'll see about getting you a commission!"

Her heart was still pounding in her chest. That was more intense than any battle. Far far far more intense with just that slightest touch. But the most frightening part about all of that was that she enjoyed it.

And that maybe she was a little bit disappointed that it stopped where it did.

 **AN: Oh no. Lucy's in love!**


	7. Chapter 7

As long as she avoided having Joker walk in on her while she was bathing and then she didn't do the same thing and then have a heartfelt conversation about being equals as male and females everything should be fine. Even if the way her parents fell in love wasn't quite so romantic and that it was very unlikely to happen the same way to her, she did not want to take any chances what so ever.

Not that Lucina was in love with Joker, she'd only known him for a few days, and most of the time he pissed her off. He was just so unnecessarily show-offish, reckless, intense, good looking, brave, skilled, and. "Gods"

"You okay Lucy?" Ann asked looking up from the clothes rack, her long blond pigtails reminding her of her aunt Lissa. And the same helpful attitude. Ann was just much taller and looked less like a small child. "You're not homesick are you?"

"No, well, a bit, but it's nothing really, I'm just uhh not used to so many people is all." She hated lying, but there was absolutely no way that she was ever going to admit to anybody that she thought that Joker might be attractive, or even remotely bearable. "And I've never seen so many clothes before."

Makoto nodded, glaring at Ann "I still don't understand why you decided to have a shopping trip on the busiest day of the year."

"I don't think it's so bad." Haru, the delightful young woman with light brown hair that was another member of the phantom thieves - apparently the only one she hadn't met so far was a Yusuke - she was a bit like Maribelle but actually bearable and completely non-judgemental. "I've heard people get in fights over good deals."

"That doesn't really happen you know." Ann sighed. "And I picked today because its when we're all here! Haru has another week before she goes back abroad, you'll be busy with school all week, and who knows how long Lucina will be here. Us phantom thieves girls gotta stick together."

"And by that, you mean shopping together?" Makoto rolled her eyes pulling out a simple top.

Phantom Thieves huh, she never would have considered herself a thief much less a phantom. And yet here she was a member of an organization that she hadn't any clue what they did. At least with the Shepards, she had known what they did. But with the Phantom Thieves, they were just kind of kids. And Joker was the only one that she'd seen fight.

And apparently, they beat a god?

"I've been meaning to ask you guys," She grabbed a white top that was paired with a red skirt that ended in frills, ruffles went down the middle of the blouse before the large belt-like section of the skirt cut it off it was probably the waist where two large black buttons rested. It even had a black dress collar, the kind that her father would hate! She wanted it! Oooh, and this black sweater looked good too. A bit plain, but warm and comfy. It almost made standing so close to Joker worth it!

"What is it?" Ann asked, beaming as she yanked out a shirt.

This was going to be an odd conversation. "What exactly do you guys do as the Phantom Thieves? I mean I understand that you traveled to another world, and I don't think you're bad people, but," she shrugged trying to find the right word for it. "Thieves?"

"Oh, Makoto hasn't told you?" Ann blinked, turning to look at their friend. "You haven't told her?"

"I've been busy with classes! And it hasn't really come up in conversation before then." Makoto huffed, turning her head to the side. "We mostly just watch movies and gossip."

"I'm not sure if I should be offended that you two are having movie nights without me." Ann, turned back to the rack sliding down the rails and grabbing something else. "But, as for the Phantom Thieves-"

"Umm," Haru interrupted, "perhaps we should talk about this somewhere private? Why not at my home? We can even have a movie night. I did just renovate the theater room, and the gym as well."

"A gym? As in a place to train?" She hadn't swung Falchion at something in a long time! And just pretending to mentally stab Joker with it when he did something stupid just wasn't quite the same. Not that she'd actually stab him. She was not that violent. "Do you have a place to train with swords?"

"Oh certainly! I was taught fencing by one of my tutors, I believe I could even arrange a sparring partner for you." Haru absolutely beamed tossing on a wide-brimmed hat and striking a pose. "Or perhaps you'd like to try facing one of us."

The other girls burst out into a fit of giggles.

"Oh! We should bring the boys, and Futaba too!" Ann perked up, a puzzling smile on her face. "It's a shame Yusuke isn't in Japan, otherwise we could have a reunion party."

"That sounds like an excellent idea!" Haru beamed, pulling out her phone. "I shall make the preparations at once."

A chance to use her Falchion, another movie night and another chance to hang out with her new found friends, and find out what exactly it meant to be a member of the Phantom Thieves. Despite being stuck in this world with the way home still closed she was rather happy with this world.

The wonderful clothes, food, company, and lack of world-ending threat helped.

The only downside was how often she had to see Joker. And, how often she wanted to see him.

She glared at the skirt in her hands, it was the same red as Joker's gloves. An idea popped into her head, one that brought a smile to her face. "Do you think Joker would be willing to be my opponent?"

XXXX

Normally he would have been somewhat impressed by Haru's home, despite having been inside of it several times. It was the quintesential rich person home, complete with a kitchen that was the size of LeBlanc, a swimming pool that was bigger than LeBlanc, a gym that was bigger than LeBlanc, and a home movie theater that was bigger than LeBlanc. The whole complex could easily fit at least forty Leblancs in it. Easily. Maybe. Math was Futaba's thing.

Well not math, she could actually barely do Algebra. She was just smart.

Futaba stood next to him, a bag over her shoulder, her tank-top had some nerd lingo on it that he barely understood and her mother was open, looking up at the building in raw amazement. "I always forget how rich Haru is, do you think I can ask her for a new computer." Futaba looked down shaking her head. "I bet she has like some super high tech AR set up!"

Right, this was her first time here. "There's a game room. She has a pool, air hockey, a dancing game, and like one fighting game, that's about it. No Tron stuff."

"How is it that you know what Tron is but you call a DS a Gameboy?"

He could all but hear her smugness.

Instead of acknowledging her he kept his eyes forward, locked with a certain blue-haired princess that had been glaring at him from the entrance of Haru's home. She was wearing a white frilly looking top that bloomed out into a red skirt just under her chest. That sword she tried to carry everywhere was sheathed and held in front of her both hands on the hilt posing like she was in some anime. Cute but equally ridiculous was his favorite way of describing Lucina.

"A challenger awaits!" Futaba shouted, finally looking down towards Lucina. "You know I'm starting to think she's a Tsundere."

Judging by how easy it was to make her blush like a school girl anime character? That was more than likely. He should probably not tease her so much, but it was so much fun!

"Joker!" Lucina called from her perch. Yep, she was in full anime mode right now. She swung her sheathed sword around and leveled it at him. It was a good thing nobody thought it was strange that her nickname for him was the same as the leader of the Phantom Thieves. "I challenge you to a duel!"

He walked up to her bag on his shoulders and turned his cocky smile up to eleven. Time to set her off. "Have you been waiting here the whole time just to challenge me?"

Queue blushing blue-haired princess. She scoffed at him, turning her head. "Most certainly not! I was just-"

"You just got excited at the thought of seeing me again." He leaned forward, just close enough whisper into her ear. "And now, you don't know the way back." He could feel her squirming under his words. She was so much fun to tease, and, she looked really cute with that blush, and when she was mad at him. Maybe there was something to this. "Well, am I right?"

"Most certainly not!" Lucina spun away from him glaring at him like he had just walked in on her changing. "I just simply wish to challenge you to a fight because I consider you a decent fighter. When you're not showing off!"

"Ohh?" He turned his head towards her, not moving from his spot as he raised a subtle eyebrow at her. She knew that he knew that she was full of shit. "Well then, lead the way."

Pride, the downfall of nations.

"V-very well!" Lucina squeaked, looking around the entrance. She picked a direction - the wrong one - and stomped away. "Uhh, follow me!"

"Hey, why you going to the pool?" Futaba bounced next to him, pointing in the right direction. As expected of their navigator. "The Gym is that way! More importantly the Arcade too!"

"You know if you wanted to show off your swimsuit all you had to do was ask." That one earned him a redfaced glare from Lucina and a swat to the chest from Futaba.

"Shut up," Lucina growled, marching past him and towards the gym.

"You know she's going to make you pay for that right?"

"It was worth it."

XXXX

It was not worth it.

Without his persona, he was an okay fighter and an okay shooter.

Lucina had a sword, sure it was made of wood but she was a great swordsman. And wood freak'n hurt!

"You got your ass kicked!" Ryuji said loudly - just a bit too loudly for his Lucina induced headache - despite the fact that both of them had at least one Ice pack located somewhere on his body. "Man, she really went all out on you."

"Didn't you get your ass kicked by Ann?"

"I got to see her and Makoto up close and personal in a sports bra," Ryuji smiled taking the ice pack off his black eye. "Totally worth it, all you got to see was Lucina in her normal clothes kicking your butt in a sword fight."

 **AN: Short chapter, going through life stuff, having problems finding my stride with this atm. Next chapter should be better. Sorry!**


	8. Chapter 8

"What do you think you're doing?" She bit her lip as she stared at Joker, there was far more bite in her words than she thought possible. But it did little to deter him. Her heart was racing as he stared at her, his eyes glowing with an inner fire that stirred something inside of her. One hand was above her head while the other was pressed into his stomach.

He was looming over her, baiting her, into some kind of action. Teasing her with that smoldering look the sweet heat of his breath and that intoxicating everything about him. He had one arm above her head as he leaned in close a soft smile challenging her to act. "What do you think I'm doing."

His thumb brushed against her hand and she took it. Entwining their fingers and losing herself in the moment. That denial she had that she was attracted to Joker had been so commonplace in her mind that him simply acting on it was leaving her breathless. "Impulsive. You're being impulsive."

"If I was being impulsive. I'd have kissed you already." He leaned in the slightest bit, her hand pulling his shirt up ever so slightly. If he wanted he could kiss her right now, it would be simple. So simple all he'd have to do would be to lean in an inch. All she'd have to do was to move forward, travel upwards, and kiss him. She wanted to know what his lips felt like.

They were probably rough. Chapped. Prickly, and would sting just the slightest bit. But it would feel good in its own way.

"Do you want me to kiss you? Lucina?" There was something in the way that Joker asked her that added to those words. If he had asked her plainly, as a joke, or just to tease her it wouldn't have meant as much. But now she knew that he wanted to kiss her as well. And that made things so much worse for her.

She bit her shaking lip, shifting her legs as no position against the wall was bearable. "Why?"

His hand cupped her cheek, stealing her breath and making her entire body feel more alive than she ever did during a fight. There was a subtle roughness to his hands that remained soft and warm as he moved to push a bit of her hair back behind her ears. He tilted his head to the side just the smallest amount, he was poised, like a snake ready to strike.

And his kiss was his venom.

"I thought you didn't like me?" That's why he teased her so much right? Why he was always so. So. This.

His laughter was caught between a purr and a growl. It was primal and promised no hesitation. No thoughts. No worries. Just emotion and action.

So she did.

Just like she thought, Joker's lips were rough, chapped, and oh so wonderful. Her entire body sparked with a surge of vitality as his hands roamed her hair pulling her closer as she felt his hand roam down her back, and finding the gap between her pajama shirt and pants. A moan escaped her.

And Joker answered with a growl.

Her emotions surged around that call as she grabbed his head, keeping their kiss going. His hair was still damp from the shower, and it tangled so easily in her fingers. But it was so fluffy and she wanted to keep touching it.

"Lucina." The way he said her name, like a whisper on the frigid wind of a blizzard, sent a chill down her spine. And the fire in his eyes warmed her up. "I want you."

Her hands fell along his body, stopping just around his waist, as she smiled at him. That one kiss, that one hot emotion-filled kiss where she had let herself go. She felt drunk. Drunker than she'd ever gotten off of a drink. She bit her lip, feeling the tingle from Joker's kiss still lingering. "How do you want me?"

"With me." He kissed her on her neck, flooding her with that wonderful sensation of his lips against her skin. "Here. Now. Later."

He continued to rain kisses down upon her, whatever resolve she had to try and stop him, that feeble pride was now long forgotten, and her desires were now the captain of her body. She hadn't felt this happy in a while. Joker wanted her. And she wanted him.

"And what would I be?" She mewled into his kisses, now on his collar bone as the first button of her shirt became undone.

"Something." He muttered.

"Something?"

"Something more."

She liked the sound of that. She opened her eyes for just a second, her fingers working on the last button of Joker's pajama shirt. When did that happen? He was in shape, in good shape, a lean powerful build fit for a thief. Especially for the thief that had stolen her heart. She ran her fingers over his exposed stomach, feeling him groan and shutter under her touch.

She guided him into another kiss by his chin. Smiling at the brief contact. "I'd like that."

"Come with me." He kissed her again, pulling her hands and escaping down the hallway with her in tow. The snacks they were sent to get for movie night with the others long forgotten. He turned with the deliberate motion like he knew the building layout. He was a thief after all.

Another turn and they were in a room. Lavish, larger than how she thought and filled with windows that looked over the glowing cityscape. Joke spun her into the room hand on her waist as he shut and locked the door with a single action. "Guest room."

She could only nod as she was pulled and then thrown onto the most comfortable bed she had ever had the joy of laying down on. It felt like clouds her head was in. Joker pounced on her, his knee occupying the space between her legs as his hands pressed down on either side of her. His breathing was hot, his shirt halfway off.

He kissed her again, making her body writhe on the bed as she tried to grab handfuls of the sheets beneath her. She gasped when he pulled away. She was ready. But ready for what?

"How far can I go?" Joker asked her as he tossed off his shirt, his pale body glistening in the starlight.

"How far?" She asked biting her lip. What was he asking for?

He shook his head smiling. "You tell me when to go further."

He leaned down kissing her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck, keeping him there while her legs wrapped around his waist, binding them together. His kiss traveled along her body stopping once he got to her neck.

He sat back, pulling her with him so that she was sitting on his lap. She felt something hot, long, and hard near her crotch. Oh. That's what how far meant.

"Further." She kissed his neck as she stayed close to him, her own embarrassment being overpowered by the suddenness of it all, and that sweet anticipation. She wanted it. She wanted him. Why did she deny this feeling for so long?

Joker moaned under her kiss and his hands were deftly working on her shirt buttons. Thiefs were good with their hands after all. Her shirt fell away and she was left in just her bra, a plain white one she had gotten earlier. She didn't intend for anybody but her to ever see it. "What do you think?"

He blinked, staring at her chest, as his hands moved behind her back. He unhooked her faster than she could even father, her bra falling from her shoulders. "You're bigger than I thought."

She brought his hand to her bare exposed chest. He grabbed them, it was different this time, his touch doing so much more than she would have thought. She threw her head back. "More."

His hands moved to her hips as he explored her bare torso. Then she felt his breath against her chest and the world began to fade from around her. It was like tickling without the torture and twice the joy and pleasure. Then she felt his lips kiss her, just above her nipple, he moved around it, teasing her, kissing each part of her breasts that no man had ever touched before her. Biting softly in places and leaving a tender mark.

His teeth grabbed her nipple, pinching it barely as her entire body began to flush with the sheer heat of the moment. Had she always been so sensitive? It felt like she was being stabbed, but without the pain, without any of the pain, just a pleasure that left her floating.

"You're good at this."

"It comes from desire."

He paused, hands moving back up to her breasts as he pushed her back onto her back with a kiss. Her hair was wild about her head. As he kept kissing her. He didn't stop kissing her. She didn't want him to stop kissing her. She wanted this kiss to never stop. She felt his hands, one dutifully kneading her breast while the other one moved south.

She gasped when two fingers slipped under her pajama pants and underwear.

Everything came to a sudden sobering stop.

She looked down at him, where his hand was. Where Joker's hand was. Where she was with Joker.

"Should I stop?" He asked her carefully.

She considered him for a moment, those feelings she had been experiencing, the rush of being with a man. Of being with him. And she found everything to be so wonderful. She cared for Joker. She cared for the same way she cared about the rest of her companions. But with something more. In a fight they were a good pair. Could they be a good pair in more than a fight?

Sex with him. Sex with Joker.

She wanted it. With that last thought, she surrendered her sobriety and smiled.

"No, keep going."

His smile told her all she needed to know.

Another heartbeat.

To her surprise, he did not just simply take off her pants, instead, he continued to sneak his way in. The anticipation was something else as he made his way down to her most private of areas. He paused, for just a moment as he began to feel her.

She gasped.

New sensations flooded over her as he began to explore everything about her. She moaned, gasped, and lost herself in the moment.

Then she felt him finally remove her pants and gasped when she felt his tongue penetrate her.

Time flew by both too fast and too slow as he continued to work some kind of magic on her.

"Joker." she breathed his name feeling a rush spread through her entire body as he continued to build something up inside of her. It came in waves until he found a spot. A spot that made her squeal. "Yes!"

Her body tensed, every muscle in her body ready to explode in action and it all came crashing down. And she felt it. That mythical thing that had been talked about in war camps and was just whispers at the palace. Sexual release.

"Joker," she breathed touching his head as he emerged from her. "That was amazing."

She could barely move as he finished removing her bottoms leaving her completely exposed. From her fluttered eyes she could barely see him removing his own pants.

So that was a penis.

"Do you want the real thing now?"

Her breath was caught in her throat as he stared at her. Then she nodded. "Yea."

Fingers had been one thing. The tongue another. But him actually entering her with his length, his girth and everything that was wonderful about him. Was another thing entirely. She couldn't do much beyond lay there and moan as he made subtle motions inside of her driving her crazy.

He kissed her at the same time, played with her breasts at the same time. It was all so much.

So this was sex.

Sex with Joker.

It was amazing.

XXXX

There was no confusion when he woke up in the morning. He knew exactly what happened last night, every wonderful moment of it. That one night stand with Tae had paid off. And now he had sex with a beautiful woman that was out of this world.

Smiling to himself he stirred looking for his glasses, and half expecting an annoying cat to be teasing him. By some miracle, the door was still locked and he was still alone in here with a very naked and very sexy princess curled up into his arms. Her long blue hair was loose and spread about the bed.

For a moment he just sighed staring at Lucina while his hand was still clutching her smooth breast. Maybe she'd be angry at him when she woke up, but she was cute when she was angry so really it was win-win. Darn, now he wanted to see her annoyed while naked.

He should make a bad joke when she wakes up. Especially if she's timid.

Lucina stirred, her hand falling on top of his. For a moment she didn't do anything.

"Are you awake Joker?" She asked softly, still staring out the window.

"Yep, I was just admiring how beautiful you are when you're asleep." He kissed her on the neck, right on one of the marks he had left there last night.

She squirmed, then let out a heavy sigh.

"You know this won't last right?" She still refused to look at him. "I'm going to find a way back to my world. I can't stay here with you."

He laughed pulling her in tighter and kissing her on the lips. She returned eagerly. Last night had started off as an excuse to tease her. But, instead, it had turned into this. Into something more.

And he was a greedy thief.

She looked at him with those deep blue eyes of her, that crest still in her left eye giving her that extra charm. Tears pooled around the base of her eyes.

"Lucina, if we can find a way to get you home, then I can find a way to visit you." He kissed her again, pushing away her tears with his thumb and forcing her to smile. "If for no other reason than to break into a palace climb a tower only to find a lovely princess threatening to stab me with her sword before we embrace each other in tender love."

She snorted and rolled her eyes as she turned to face him. "If you did that my father would kill you. Same with my mother. Actually, she might like you. My little brother would probably ask you for a thousand stories. If you can ever meet them."

"You know, everytime people tell me I can't do something that I want to do, they end up wrong. 'Joker you can't ace the test without studying. Joker, you can't fight against the adults. Joker, you can't stop me. Joker, you can't go back to being a phantom thief.' So don't underestimate me Lucina."

He was fairly certain that at this point she was the girl he had kissed the most. And that was a title he wanted her to keep. Especially if she kept making those noises with each kiss.

"Well," Lucina place a hand on his shoulder guiding him onto his back while she straddled him. "Just in case, I'd like to make the most out of you."

"I won't object to that."

He should apologize to Haru's maid after this though.

 **AN: Long time no update? Sorry, I kind of lost traction there because I just couldn't get the chapter to work how I wanted it to. I originally had it with the other Phantom Thieves trying to get Joker and Lucina togeather. But that just felt weird.**

 **Instead I went for porn.**


	9. Chapter 9

There were no tombs in the library quite as thick, quite as large, quite as old, and quite as important as the one Robin was scanning over. Written by over thirty scholars, mages, leaders, and more, over a thousand years, in a dozen different languages, the tomb was one part history of their world, one part its doom, and two parts her only hope.

Spells littered the pages, from raising a sunken castle to freezing a mountain in ice, spells that could change cities, bring life to a desert, bring death to a forest. And all of them were beyond useless.

"Take a break." The warm shall and an even warmer cup of tea Chrom had brought her made her aware of just how cold the library truly was. But that didn't matter.

"I can't." She shook her head and scanned the page in front of her. From tip to tip it was almost longer than her arm, and numerous smaller pages were glued, or sewn into each one, making each page feel like a book in its own right. "She's still out there."

"She's been out there before." Chrom rubbed her back in a soft circle that felt so very good. Almost good enough to lull her to sleep. He gave a laugh and leaned backwards against the table, arms crossed, leaving his shirtless chest exposed to her. Ahh, either it was just getting night, or it was just becoming morning. "Lucina isn't a weak girl, she can handle herself."

"I know!" She bit, trying to turn one of the pages quickly, only to slow down when she heard a small tear. Rushing wouldn't solve anything. "I know. But that doesn't mean I can't try to help her. The pathway between worlds are sealed, I just need to open one up, and give her a light to come home to."

"And you will. But you need sleep. Besides." Chrom grabbed her from the waist and hugged her softly, his chin resting on her shoulder and she felt the warmth of his love. "Your daughter misses you. Your son misses you, and I miss you."

"Hmm," She hummed enjoying his touch and letting her eyes shut for just a moment. "I'm surprised Morgan isn't in here helping me."

"He was, you kicked him out remember?"

"Oh? So I did." She opened her eyes and looked at the book for a moment. It would be here in the morning. "Just one more page, then I can promise your wife will be in your bed tonight."

"One more page and I'll be carrying her to-"

She saw it, hidden under one of the attached pages, a second folded page, near some talk about a foreign land connected by portals. She shoved Chrom back and grabbed the page, tearing it gently. It was a spell! A spell to open a portal where the was none! "Chrom this is it!"

He looked confused, her husband was a great warrior and a great leader but magic wasn't exactly his forte. "Paper?"

"No the spell! Alright, Oh and it's not a complicated ritual either." she kept looking over it. And felt her heart drop. It wasn't a transportation spell. "It's just a messenger spell."

"Oh, well that's good, right? We can get in contact with her at least." Chrom moved over to console her. "Or not?"

"It's a start, maybe there's something she can do in her world to give us a chance." Robin took a breath. She wanted to get her daughter home. "Alright, stand back. Oh and get your sword ready."

"Why?"

"Slight chance of summoning demons?"

"There always is."

With a few arcane words, hand gestures and just a bit of energy the spell was complete. A green orb appeared amid the room, lighting up the place like a second sickly sun.

Robin blinked and stared at it for a moment. "Oh, uh, hello? Lucina?"

Did it work?

"Robin Dear!" A haughty voice came from the orb, the tone, accent, and just about everything about it was familiar enough. "It's been far too long, we really must go for tea sometime. But this isn't a social call, is it? Don't worry, a certain green-haired goddess told me all about your wayward daughter, she's in good hands. Though I supposed its time to return home. Keep the channel open for me deary."

Without another word the orb vanished.

"Was that who I think it was?" Chrom asked sword firmly in hand.

"Yep. I don't know if that's a good thing though."

XXXX

"So did you?"

"Yep."

"Nice."

"Yep."

"And how was it."

"Nice."

"Nice?"

"Nice."

"Nice."

Futaba sighed and glared at both Akira and Ryuji while she typed away at her laptop. "Seriously you two? Are you having this conversation in front of me? And in Leblanc?"

"Why are you sitting with us anyways Futaba?" Ryuji nodded and pointed his chin towards the table where the other girls were all laughing. A red-faced Lucina in the center of the storm. "Shouldn't you be with them."

"No," Futuaba stretched out the 'O' and glared at Ryuji from over her glasses. "They're worse, at least with you guys it's just 'Nice' they're talking about everything over there."

Akira looked back and caught Lucina's eye for just a moment, she bit her lip and smiled at him, her blue eyes shining through her blush. That smile vanished when Anna grabbed onto her excitedly. If he had known that being in a relationship would have caused her this much embarrassment he would have tried to keep it secret.

"Still, I have to admit Akira, gratz on being the only guy in the history of the world to hook up with a character from a video game. And you even got with one of the waifuiest waifu's out there. Even if the internet thinks she's flat." Futaba typed on her computer, not looking him in the eye.

"What the hell? Why are you getting on us for talking about it when you're talking like a dirty old man?" Ryuji poked Futaba in the head.

"I'm a girl, it's cute when I do it." Futaba sneered back and swatted at Ryuji's hands.

"Pfft, you're a perverted shut-in, I've seen a few of those games you ordered, they're Eroge."

"So? It's still cute when a girl does it!"

Since when did Futaba care about being cute? He missed Yusuke, at least when he was around Futaba just argued with him. It was like she needed someone to disagree with. Maybe that was a side effect of her being on the internet so much? Seemed likely.

"You spend too much time on the internet Futaba!" Ryuji shouted stuck trying to get to Futaba's forehead while she deflected him. It was like the slowest action scene ever.

"Okay Boomer!" Futaba shouted back.

"What?"

Ryuji didn't get a response as the door to Cafe Leblanc was opened.

Normally this wouldn't do much if anything at all. But it was the presence that entered the cafe that caused everyone from Haru to Sojiro to pause for a moment and stare, mouths falling open. She was tall, nearly impossibly so, with equally as impossibly high heels on. Tight black leather pants showed off her feminine legs and the ruffled white top she wore looked like something a model would wear.

Short black hair. Sunglasses that had more jewelry on them than a jewelry store. And enough sass in her every step to make a bear blush.

Akira hadn't seen her in years, but somehow the woman looked exactly how he remembered her.

"Jigen?" the woman paused looking towards Sojiro. "Dear me, it's been far too long! Whatever happened to your hair?"

"Fell out," Sojiro rubbed his head and smiled. "And it's Sojiro now Cereza, but what are you-"

"Bayonetta!" Lucina stood from her booth with the girls, practically running on the countertop to jump over Makoto and over to the much taller woman. "What are you doing here? Is this your world too or did you-"

"Ahh, there you are Lucina, finding you was easier than I thought. Or perhaps I'm just that good?" Bayonetta gave a haughty laugh and patted Lucina on her head. "But give me a bit deary, I just got here and there's so much I need to catch up on."

"Are my parents?"

"They're fine darling, fine, and they miss you terribly." Bayonetta waved her hand at Lucina and then locked eyes with Akira. She took a few steps towards him, her towering stature just as powerful as he remembered. "Now Ren, baby, don't give me that look, aren't you going to say hi?"

Akira swallowed and looked up at her. It had been so many years since he'd seen her, this was the least he could do. "Hello, Mom."

The cafe exploded with a singular repeat of that word.

"Mom!?"

 **AN:... I saw some Lucina fan art.**


End file.
